


He Knew... (An Army Love Story)

by Writerntqz93



Category: Endless Summer (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:54:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24650404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerntqz93/pseuds/Writerntqz93
Summary: An Army Officer, named Elena Danvers finds herself partnered with another army officer named, Jake McKenzie. How will they become partners and continue their Journey with Jake's reserved behavior? Or more importantly, how will they manage their professional and personally life, when they fall for each other?
Relationships: Jake McKenzie/Main Character (Endless Summer), Main character (Endless Summer)/Joseph Rodriguez, Sean Gayle/Michelle Nguyen
Kudos: 2





	1. Flashback

**Author's Note:**

> I am a wordpress blogger, if you like this chapter, you can follow me on the following link:  
> www.theillusionalnarration.com
> 
> I am having some issues, therefore, if the site doesn't open in once, please come back and click again!  
> Thank you for reading, He Knew...

Chapter 1: Flashback

It was my first day as an army officer in the special forces of the US army. I was very nervous just like every new candidate and officer present there. It was exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I wasn’t able to believe that I was finally an officer [well, basically I was at the position of captain, in the line of being the General of the Army but officer sounded cooler]. I was filled with anxiety but I managed not to throw up.

That day every new captain, major, colonel, etc. were called in the office of Commander Drax, yeah we also got codenames once we reached the position of captain/chief master Sergeant in the army/air force/navy. There were at least a dozen of new captains in that office. Some looked confident, some looked nervous, but there was this one guy who seemed really casual about being a captain in the army. He seemed not more than a year or two older than me.  
Each one of us was given a partner. Once we got assigned with a partner, we weren’t allowed to change them until our promotion. I was given a codename, which was surprisingly good… my codename was kept Dragon. I really had a moment of happiness with that name until I got assigned with a partner, the guy who was very casual about being captain. His name was Jacob Lucas McKenzie, people used to call him Jake. His codename was Wolf. All of us were in our uniforms but that guy wore a blue jeans, black T-shirt, A green jacket and dog tags at his first day in army. He had pale skin, a rough stubble, blue eyes and long brown hair, which reached till the end of his face.

“Dragon! You are partnered with Wolf, wolf has been in the air force for two years and he is an ex-pilot, even though it’s his first day in army as well, but you can learn a thing or two from him.” Said Commander Drax. Before I could say anything, Jake gave a tight nod to Drax and went out of the office. That felt very rude to me, I mean, he didn’t even said hi or shook hands with me at least for the sake of professionalism! I went to my quarter and found out that partners will be staying in the same quarters! I thought I was overreacting but how can I share a room with such an unprofessional guy, who wasn’t even enthusiastic about his job…  
He was sitting on his bed in the quarter, I just had to start a conversation even though it would be a small talk, since we would be working together.  
“Hello” I said, in my most professional tone. He looked at me, his brown hair, slightly covering his blue eyes.  
“Hi” He said, with a tone of disinterest.  
“My name is Eleanor Martin Danvers, but people call me Elena!” I said, fully trying to create a small talk.  
“Good. You already know my name so I don’t think we need this small talk anymore.” He said.  
Finally it was the first full sentence that came out of his mouth, even though it was insulting. I gave him a cold stare for a moment then went to unpack my things, he still seemed undisturbed.  
Being a new captain was more like being a new intern for the first few days. I and Jake had to go to some technical areas for inspection and for all those things that didn’t feel ‘Army-ish’. But still we got through it. After a week, we were given our very first mission. Well, the mission was kind of a bodyguard mission. We had to escort the President of the US to Seattle. We were told that he was invited to a gala which was organized by the Governor of Washington, and we were responsible for his protection. Our soldiers will surround him and our duty was to stay out of sight to handle any other abrupt emergencies. I didn’t like the mission but it was a start, I knew that I won’t be spoon fed big missions in my very first month.

We reached at the location. Jake and I were in hiding, I was about move forward when out of nowhere, and I heard Jake’s sharp voice,  
“Hey Princess! Get your ass down on the ground or the President will see us!”  
“Princess?” I asked in an irritated tone.  
“I give nicknames to people who annoy me, and so far your name is on top of that list.” He replied.  
I rolled my eyes and sat down in position, we completed our mission and luckily we never got another bodyguard mission. That day when we were returning back to the HQ, Jake was a few steps ahead of me.  
“Hey Top-gun! Wait up.” I called out to him.

He looked at me with a confused look, I smirked and said “I have started giving nicknames to people who annoy me, and so far, your name is on top of that list”  
Jake’s lips curled up into a smile, he gave me a 2-fingered salute and said, “Touché!” as we went on. After that day, we finally started talking to each other like partners did.  
The next few days went a bit boring, since soldiers couldn’t be on a mission all the time. I asked Jake, “Sooo… from which infantry division did you get transferred from?”  
“36th, Louisiana.” He said.  
“Oh! I was from the 40th, Washington.” I said.  
“Like, it’s your hometown or something?” he asked me.  
I was temporarily shocked for a moment that he continued the conversation, otherwise whenever I said something he was always like “Good.” But then, I composed myself and said, “No! My hometown is in San Francisco, California. I prefer staying away from home, when I am doing a dangerous job, like being in the army. Why do you ask?”  
“Nothing just… I used to be in the direct reporting unit of the air force in Washington, but then I thought to be near my family since my mother was sick, and also due to some other problems in the air force, so I joined the army’s 36th division near Louisiana.” He said, with a slightly pained look in his eyes.

I thought that I should have stopped the conversation but I didn’t, instead I wanted to know more about him, since he was always so tough and reserved.  
“Since both of us are in the Special Forces, what speciality brought you here?” I asked.  
“Wow, you have studied the whole structure of the army, haven’t you?” he said and smirked.  
Somehow, I didn’t knew why, but I started liking his small smirk whenever he acted sarcastically. I said, “Stop changing the subject! And yes I have studied the whole thing. Knowing things is kind of my original profession. I am from the military intelligence of the army.”  
Jake looked at me, it was the first time when our eyes met… we were not on a mission, we were not in a meeting, we were just sitting and talking to each other, I was melted in his blue eyes for a moment. I was able to see all of his emotions, pain, anger, nostalgia, etc. I jerked back in the real world. He said, “Well… I am from the Air Defence/ Field Artillery Corporation and Logistics Corporation.”

I raised my eyebrows at his mention of ‘Logistics’. He continued, “I know that I don’t look like a math guy but data analytics and strategizing is kind of my thing!”  
We both started laughing when we realized how he pulled his guard up, as I raised my eyebrows questioningly, but I never really thought that a guy like Jake could be from the logistics division. Since that day, we became friends. 

I found out that Jake’s family was shifted from Louisiana to San Francisco because his mother needed more amount of medical attention. We started hanging out during our vacations, I met Jake’s mother Martha McKenzie. She was a very sweet women, she didn’t look very old… she had wavy brunette hair and blue eyes, her face was wrinkled due to weakness but still she was able to speak firmly. I visited her in the hospital regularly with Jake. As much as I remembered, the doctor told me that she was affected by some radioactive substance for a very long time that created a large tumour in her intestine. Sometimes, even though I always liked to think positively, I felt that maybe, just maybe… she was too kind for the cruel world. I never shared that thought of mine with Jake, and I don’t regret it. I also met his father, Jake told me that he wasn’t his biological father, his name was Stephen James. Jake and Mr James were not on good terms but still I saw the genuine love his mother and father shared. Then I met his sister, Rebeca James. She resembled to her father, she had red long, straight hair and blue eyes, she looked beautiful, it was like the whole family was gifted with beauty. She was like a carbon copy of her mother (behaviour wise), I observed that Jake was really attached to Rebeca, the way they both talked about their childhood memories made me wish that I had a sibling, hearing their stories made being a single child life sound boring. We got to know each other well during the vacation and since we were partners, we just had to know.

During the last four days of our vacation, Jake asked me, “Hey princess, do you want to go trekking tomorrow? It’s been a while since we had done some good exercise!”  
“Yeah sure! Why not?” I said excitedly.  
I could see Jake’s face relaxing when I said those words.  
“Well then… cool! Tomorrow 5am?” he asked.  
“Done!” I said. For a second I thought that he was asking me out but it felt somewhat wrong to me.

Next day, I was up by 4am. I got ready and packed my things for the trek. Jake was standing at my door. I said goodbye to my mom and we both went towards the hill. We started the trail at around 6am and thanks to our army training, we both reached at the top pretty quickly by 7:30am. We missed the sunrise but still it was a beautiful view from up there. I looked at Jake, the morning rays of the sun lighted his face up. He turned towards me and that time I didn’t act like I wasn’t looking at him, we saw each other. He had a tender expression on his face, he looked right into my eyes and I melted in his invisible embrace. We both, let the moment lingered while it lasted. As we came back in the real world, I saw him blushing beet red, even my cheeks were flushed. We weren’t able to look eye-to-eye for a few minutes and then after the awkward moment we spent a few hours up at the hill with a picnic and chatting and then we got back down.

When I reached home, my mom had already made dinner. She said, “So, how was the trek honey?”  
“Well it was interesting…” I said, with a slight realization. My mom always used to tease me that I liked Jake, but at that moment it felt true, like… I really had feelings for him. Whenever our eyes met, I felt a chill running through my spine, whenever he smirked after I said something I used to blush. All those things made sense after that trek. My mom said, “I knew it! The way you talked about him, gave it away the very first time!” I rolled my eyes and ran upstairs, grinning ear-to-ear…  
When I got refreshed and finished my dinner, I was still thinking about my sudden realization, but just before going to bed, a thought hit my mind, if I have feelings for Jake, that would be very unprofessional and undisciplined for a member of the army because he was my professional partner. How was I supposed deal with the mess that I made up in my mind? I slept an uncomfortable sleep that night.  



	2. Enigma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A one year break has been taken... now Elena and Jake are colonels, but what has Jake kept hidden from Elena till now?...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a wordpress blogger, if you like this chapter, you can follow me on the following link:  
> www.theillusionalnarration.com
> 
> I am having some issues, therefore, if the site doesn't open in once, please come back and click again!  
> Thank you for reading, He Knew...

A year went by like the swift wind, I and Jake were promoted from captains to majors to colonels, and it looked like our hard work did pay off. A whole year full of new experiences, went interesting… I went on a bodyguard mission, many inspection missions, attended several meetings with the defence minister, met the President of the country, had a new set of training routine, and learned how to operate a jet and a tank. Also, I met Jake and several new people in my life. We didn’t change partners after promotion, we both knew that it would be for the best to stay partners.

I was feeling… I don’t know how to say this… but I was feeling comfortable around Jake, I mean, I used to be nervous around the people I liked, but instead of feeling nervous, I felt comfortable, like I knew that he would understand anything and everything I would say (I may have taken him for granted  )  
One day, Commander [or should I say General] Drax called all the units in his office urgently. We reached there as soon as it was possible, we were just reaching the other end of the HQ when I saw a dark man, who was bald, had a very muscular body, wore a large exoskeleton and had a big cigar in his mouth. He gave Jake a knowing look and a salute. I could clearly see, Jake making an attempt to fake smile. After that guy was gone, I saw fumes coming out Jake’s nostrils, “Top-gun, did you know that guy? Are you alright?!” I asked in a worried tone. He turned back and without looking at me, he went towards our quarter. I ran after him.  
That day I discovered that Jake can walk really fast. I mean, I was running behind him, and by the time I reached into the room, he was already there AND he had turned the whole place upside down.

“Jake! Calm down! Why don’t you tell me what is happening then we will think it through, okay?” I said.  
Jake looked at me, I could literally feel the vibe of anger coming from him. He said, “I am sorry princess, I didn’t want this to happen!”  
“Happen what?!” I asked.  
“All of this! Me reacting like this after seeing Rex Lundgren my ex-commander!” he said. I was confused, I had never seen him so off-guard. He continued, “He was the reason I left   
air force, it’s because of him that Mike—” he stopped. He looked like he couldn’t control the conflict of emotions in his heart.

“Wait, who is Mike? What did Lundgren do? I mean, I know that you don’t like to talk about your time in the air force but… it has started to affect you, at least tell me SOMETHING.” I said. I was worried, actually to be very particular, I was scared. I had never seen him react at something like this before. It was like I was seeing a whole new side of him.  
“You know what princess? I will tell you everything later, but let’s just go to Drax’s office first.” He said. The tension within him, slightly wore off.   
We reached General’s office. Drax eyed us suspiciously and asked, “Why are you two late?” I couldn’t control myself and I puked out, “Sorry sir! It won’t happen again… there was a personal matter that came up urgently.” Drax was an easy person to fool, sometimes I wondered who selected him to be the General of the Army. But maybe it was all just an act, who knew? He said, “Okay, I will tolerate this mistake only once. But make sure this won’t happen again…”  
The meeting was called to inform us that all the 3 generals, Drax (General of the Army), Tarantula (Lundgren) (General of the Air force), and Crab (General of the navy) were called by the senate for the discussion of an important mission. And all the Colonels were told to brace themselves, since any one pair will get the mission and it wouldn’t be an easy   
one.

After the announcement, Lundgren came to me and Jake.   
“Hey Wolf, long time no see? Where have you been, you could have at least kept contact!” Lundgren said, in a very informal way.  
“Hello Commander Lundgren. Well, I just got so busy here in the army that I didn’t get the time to catch up with my air force buddies!” Jake said with an unnatural sweetness in his voice. I could easily figure out the sarcasm he was throwing at Lundgren, but Lundgren seemed like he didn’t notice. As much as I hated to think it but I saw that Lundgren looked at Jake like a proud father looks at his son. 

I was about to leave both of them when Jake suddenly gripped my hand, sending a message to stay with him. Damn! He had a very strong grip and very soft hands, I felt that his hands should do something gentler other than holding a gun. Lundgren saw Jake holding my hand, he said, “So, I don’t mean to pry, but you two just partners or… friends with benefits?” That moment was the moment when he crossed the line of my limits, my rage cancelled out my blushing but I saw Jake signalling me to play along.  
“Yeah, well I wouldn’t call us friends with benefits but yeah, you can call us lovebirds. We started off as good friends but you know… feeling?” Jake said in an exaggerative tone. I was about to scowl when Lundgren cut in, “Good for you Wolf, I thought you would never get over Jeanine, heard you two had a dirty breakup. But you two look good together. Anyway, I gotta go, it was nice catching up with you after a very long time.” He went on his way and I punched Jake in the arm. “Seriously Top-Gun! That is how you improvise?!” I   
said. He howled a laugh after looking at my face.

“Sorry… that was the only answer I could think at that moment!” he said, he was still laughing.  
“So… who is this Jeanine?” I asked. I avoided the tone of a slight hint of jealousy in my question.  
“Oh! She…uh…I…” he said in a murmuring voice.  
“Jacob… talk to me! Don’t you trust me? Let me help you!” I said.  
He looked at me with a distant look when I called him ‘Jacob’. What else was I supposed to do? He just wouldn’t open up! Jake gave out a long dramatic sigh and said, “Fine, you want to know everything, I will tell you everything.” He started:

Well, before I joined the army, I was in the air force. Rex Lundgren was the brigadier general of the air force at that time. He had his own special team called as the arachnid soldiers. And yes, these soldiers were given codenames on different types of spiders. It was my first day in real military. I wasn’t sure that I was ready for it, even though I went to military school my whole life for that. I was really nervous- not the tough guy I am now. Lundgren specially chose me for the arachnid team, he named me WOLF SPIDER (but when I came to the army, it was just WOLF). The arachnid soldiers were really rude and always bullied the newbies, it was like a new high school day for me.  
But there was this one guy who didn’t ‘Rookie’ me. His name was Mike Darwin. Mike helped me through my first day, he stood up for me when Tetra (another member of the arachnid) was about to beat me up. Luckily, I got Mike as my partner. During our first mission as co-pilots, Mike helped me fly a jet for the first time, I mean… I had flown a jet before but it was my first mission in real military. After that day, we both became best friends.

Two years went by, and even though I disliked Lundgren, I noticed that he was slightly partial towards me, like if I did a mistake, he would ignore me but if any other soldier would do the same thing, he would have punished him or her. He sometimes acted like a father I never had, I mean, I have a dad, but he is my stepdad, and we both just genuinely dislike each other… Mike always used to call me Grandpa, because of my reserved behaviour in our first few weeks of partnership and since he called me grandpa, I used to call him kid. And Jeanine, she was my girlfriend. We both met because of Lundgren, he sent her to my quarter to help me with my injuries while we were fighting against a terrorist group who called themselves as ‘The Extinctionists’. I never understood how those people did come up with these kinds of names. So anyways, Jeanine and I had a good connection from the start, and soon we were in one bed.  
One day, I and Mike were going to Lundgren’s cabin to report him about some heat signatures of different people other than the terrorists in the western region of the area we were camping in. As we reached near his cabin, we overheard him, making a deal of weaponries with the terrorist leader. We were devastated and shocked for a moment, we stealthily returned back to our quarter. Since you know I am from the Logistics division as well, I was the guy who depended on planning and strategizing. But Mike was aggressive young blood. I was younger than him, still he was the aggressive one. So, he went to Lundgren and confronted him, he threatened him that he will tell the whole system about his dirty handiwork. 

I and Mike had a small argument about the whole mess he made but then he just apologized and agreed that the next day, everything will be going by the plan. Mike informed me that he had also included Jeanine in the plan, since Jeanine was one of the few soldiers who were trusted by Lundgren blindly. The next day, before we could do anything Jeanine came to us with a panicked look on her face, she said, “Mouse (Mike), you are ordered to take down the terrorist group from the south, I tried to change Lundgren’s mind so that he would send another soldier but he said that Commander Drax, personally requested for you!” Mike looked at me, I gave him a firm nod, and signalled that I will handle everything else. After that mission, Mike never came back. I figured out that it was Lundgren’s doing and Jeanine was with Lundgren the whole time. Lundgren and Jeanine didn’t know that I was the part of the plan too, that is why I am standing here right now.

Everyone said that Mike’s plane crashed, but I knew why his plane crashed. After a few days, I pulled some strings in the system and got myself a Letter of Recommendation for the army, so that Lundgren would let me leave without doubting. I wanted to fight for Mike, but I just knew that it wasn’t the right time.  
All those heartbreaks – Mike’s Death, Jeanine’s betrayal, Lundgren’s disloyalty made me tough, which is why I was rude to you for the first few months of our partnership, you were just like Mike in those months, trying your best to create a small talk, trying to make me open up, giving me a nickname and all that stuff. After Mike’s death, I just didn’t want to get close to anyone else, but here we are.

After Jake finished his story, the room was filled with a sad emptiness. I felt sorry for him but I knew that saying ‘Jake I am so sorry’ won’t make him feel better, it never does. I sat closer to him and hugged him tightly. He hesitated for a second, but then hugged me back. I was able to feel his tears on my shoulder. “Why… it does always… always has to be the one we love who have to pay?” he said, he was still crying. I patted his back affectionately. “I didn’t like that bitchass Lundgren the second I laid my eyes on him” I said. He gave me a half-hearted smile.

I felt bad for him and angry about Lundgren. But I couldn’t help myself feeling selfish, because even after listening his whole story, my mind was hooked on one question that whatever Jake said to Lundgren about his feelings for me was true or not? Or whatever he said that I was like Mike, did he see me as best friend or good or whatever?  
“Hey, Top-Gun… if we ever get the chance to kick Lundgren’s ass, I will be right by your side!” I said, in a tone which almost felt like a pep talk tone.   
“Thanks Elena, it means a lot to me. And I mean it.” He said.

I was surprised after hearing my name from his mouth for the first time. It might sound exaggerating but during the whole time period of our partnership, he never called me ‘Elena’, it was either Dragon or Princess. We both were just about to sleep, when suddenly Jake’s pager beeped. He went to the reception to take a call from his sister.  
After a while, he came back into the quarter. He was dumbfounded, speechless. A haunted look covered his face. “Jake, what happened?” I asked. He looked at me, and mumbled, “Mom… she… no, this can’t…” I understood the situation. Mrs McKenzie was not the part of the world anymore. Jake started crying and screaming. It was the worst day ever of his life. I didn’t say anything. I wanted him to let all out. After he let it all out, somehow I managed to make him go to sleep. We took a leave and caught a flight back to San Francisco. We attended Mrs McKenzie’s funeral. Jake was too depressed to even give a eulogy for his mother. The whole family was much shaken, and of course they would’ve been… Mrs McKenzie was a person who can’t be forgotten by anybody. I and Jake were not given the permission to take a leave for more than 4 days, since all the generals were not at the HQ, therefore we had to leave soon. I hugged Rebeca goodbye, and told her to stay strong, even though I knew how hard it would be for her. After two to three months things finally started to settle back, and all the 3 generals returned from Washington D.C. that’s when we got our first significant long term mission…


	3. Expedition Errand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elena and Jake are finally given their first long term mission, will they make a team that will pull this off with flying colours or will everything drown in the sea of anxiety?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a wordpress blogger, if you like this chapter, you can follow me on the following link:  
> www.theillusionalnarration.com
> 
> I am having some issues, therefore, if the site doesn't open in once, please come back and click again!  
> Thank you for reading, He Knew...

I was in the Special Forces due to my abilities… before being the part of Military Intelligence, I was in the Cyber as well as Chemical Corporations of the army. And before being in the army… I was a local hacker and a college student. Well, the army found out about me, when I hacked my college’s archived files and leaked the question paper of our final exams only for ONE GIRL… she was my best friend… her name was Arista. I didn’t look at the papers even for once, and I wanted to give Arista those papers so that she could pass her finals, because just that year itself, she had an accident that injured her spine, a horrible break up (I didn’t like her bitch girlfriend myself) and that is why she missed most of her classes. She pleaded with the principal to provide leniency for her but he denied her with attitude and gave the example that many students have these kinds of incidents. Well even though many people have those kinds of incidents, doesn’t make her hurt any less… So I hacked into the network. Well, I got caught and when the police were about to take me, the inspector got a call… it was Commander Drax. 

My parents were happy and scared because of the opportunity. But I decided to take up the offer and join the cyber corps. I felt that finally… I was part of something big and meaningful. Then I was trained, for every situation… every habitat, every manipulation, and every torture. But those were just the basics. Luckily, I was already trained in different combat styles and Martial Arts since childhood. I loved fighting… I mean not ‘fighting’ fighting. Like, I loved to learn new and different things, my friends used to call me a ‘little ray of sunshine’ but even they knew it wasn’t true. 

So during my time in the cyber corps, I never left my love for analytical chemistry. I completed my Post Graduation and stayed in the army, I still keep studying it, since I am planning for a Ph.D. During one of my missions, I cracked out the chemical which was used to poison one of the soldiers and after that day, I was working with the chemical corporations as well. So in short, I was everything the Military Intelligence and Special Forces wanted.   
‘Everything has two sides’ theory was applied to me as well. Having many talents or abilities felt good, but… it always kept me under pressure of everyone else. Being in the army was a huge opportunity for me, but only this was the place where I couldn’t stay on my ‘I don’t care’ mode. Because everything I did, matter. People… sorry, commanders, colonels, majors, generals… expected many things from me. And maybe the whole country as well. Here, I couldn’t be like ‘I can’t stand on everyone’s expectations, I don’t want to’ because here, I just have to. I know that maybe every army person has to go through all that but…just as I said… even though many people experience that thing, it won’t make it less hurtful. 

Just because of all this, when I got my very first long term mission, I panicked (in my head).  
Our Mission was to go to an Island called La Huerta. It was located between the Caribbean. La Huerta was not seen on the map due to some classified reasons, actually it wasn’t seen on the map because of the security of a substance. We had to test and find out what kind of a substance was found there. The dead thought that it was some kind of a rare metal and named it as Zekonium. We were told to protect the mines which produced Zekonium from spies and terrorists AND conduct the test that would tell us about that rare metal.

As soon as Jake heard the word zekonium, from Drax’s mouth, his jaw dropped for a second. He composed himself and made a gesture of thinking something, then said, “Well, you mean in the sense of real ‘Zekonium’ zekonium?”  
“Yes, why do you ask Wolf?” asked General Drax.  
“Nothing just… I have heard some rumours about it, that’s it.” Jake replied, I could figure out something fishy behind his voice.  
“Well, now you can go and see for yourself.” Said Drax.

He also told us to take a team of our choice to the mission, since no one can do this alone. All we had to do was to keep him informed and the rest was in our hands. The other thing he warned us about was to keep the mission totally classified, because the country’s foreign affairs were already heated and if the other countries would even get a hint about that test, they would consider it as a threat, and we didn’t want that. We were given one month to make a team and leave for La Huerta.  
“Dragon, I am keeping you as the in charge for all the metal testing procedures and Wolf, you are responsible for the protection and classification of the mission… you both are some of the best colonels of the Special Forces. That is why I have given you this chance to prove the fact to the whole system. Do you copy?” Drax ordered us.  
“YES SIR!” I and Jake replied in symphony. And we returned back to our quarter.

“Let me call my parents to inform them I am coming home.” I said. Jake became distant at the word ‘parents’ for a second, but then suddenly said,   
“Hey… uh, princess? If you or your parents don’t mind, can I stay at your home for the month? Actually, after everything that happened with mom, Rebeca decided to move on with her life, that’s why she got married. Now I don’t wanna… uh… you know, interrupt in her newly-wed life. And you know, that I can’t bare my dad, mom was the only reason I agreed on staying in the same house with him when she was alive.” His voice slightly broke at the line of ‘when she was alive’.  
“Of course you can stay! Let me just inform my parents okay?” I said. I was very excited. I felt like a middle school girl who was excited because her crush was coming at her house for a sleepover. I went to the reception to call my parents. 

“Hello Mom?” I said.  
“Elena?! Hi honey, it’s so good to hear you voice, you barely call us once in a month!” my mom said in an excited voice.  
“Yeah… I just wanted to tell you that I am coming home for a month.” I said with a sigh.  
“What? Why? I mean, I am happy about you coming home but did something happen? Did you get injured in a war or something?” My Dad said, suddenly coming out of nowhere.  
“Uh… hey dad! No, nothing has happened like that, and soldiers aren’t on a war all the time! We are just told to take a small vacation because, after that we are not allowed to take any leaves for at least six months. And speaking of ‘We’ I wanted to ask you guys, is it ok if Jake stays with us for the month? He doesn’t has a place to stay, Sooo… but only if you guys are ok with it!” I said. My parents were very unpredictable people, when they would say what, even I didn’t know.  
“What?! A boy? With you? In our house?” my dad said in an overprotective tone. “Honey stop--! Yeah sweetie, it is totally fine by us if you bring Jake home.” My mom said while hushing dad.

I laughed and said, “No I don’t mean to impose! If you both have a problem I can tell him to stay somewhere else.”  
“No no…we BOTH are totally fine by it!” my mom and dad said in chorus. I talked to them for a few more minutes and hanged up the phone. I went back into the quarter.   
Jake asked, “Sooo…?.”

I laughed and told him that my parent didn’t had any problem with him staying with us for a month. The next day, we left the HQ and caught a flight back to San Francisco.  
My mom and dad were waiting for us at the airport. When we both reached at the arrival station I hugged my parents. Jake was standing back giving a small smile. He shook hands with my dad and said, “Hello Mr Danvers, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” My dad gave him a firm handshake. As soon as Jake was going to shake hands with my mom, she pulled him into a hug. My mom was much of a hugger, but that moment was a bit embarrassing for me.  
“Hello Mrs Danvers, it’s a pleasure to meet you too, Eleanor talks about you all the time!” He said.   
Wait? Did he say ‘ELEANOR’? For a minute I thought that I left Jake behind but, I figured out that he was just trying to impress my parents. I held my laughter during the ride back home.

“You have a lovely home Mr and Mrs Danvers.” Said Jake. He had a very genuine tone. I was happy to see him getting comfortable with my family. “You don’t need to be formal Jacob! You can call us Bethany and Eric.” My mom said, she had already started ‘my own son’ treatment on him.  
“No, no mam… it’s alright. I don’t prefer calling elders by their names, that’s just how I am raised.” Jake said, trying not to sound argumentative. We all settled in, I showed Jake his room and went to change.

After we got refreshed, I went to talk to dad, “So, you really don’t have a problem about Jake staying with us?” I asked. He looked at me and kept a hand on my shoulders with a sigh. “Naw honey… I was just worried about your safety, but then I realized that you are so grown up and you are in the army, of course you can protect yourself! Now that I have met Jacob, and the way your mom talks about him, I think he is a good guy but if he broke--” he said. I cut him in the middle and said, “Not the dad expression! Please dad! And we are not in a relationship!” He laughed heartily and hugged me…   
We all sat for dinner. My mom had made my favourite dish for dinner, steaks. During the time course of my partnership with Jake, I easily found out that he loved steaks. The dinner was going great, until my mom suddenly said, “I made Elena’s favourite dish and she told me that it’s Jacob’s favourite dish too!” My food got stuck in the middle of my oesophagus when she said those words… I was about to cough but I controlled it. Jake looked at me and chuckled. “Yeah, these are my favourite, they are delightful, and please, just call me Jake.” He said, as we finished dinner.

After the heavenly and embarrassing dinner, I was about to go to bed when Jake came to me, “Princess? We have to start making the team by tomorrow, we don’t have much time. I have a list of people who might help us in the protection and classification of the mission. I’ll forward them to you. If you have the list of all the Bruce Banners and Tony Starks (scientists) then you can forward them to me.” He said.

“Well, uh… sorry, my mind was preoccupied, but I have done some researches, I’ll forward them to you.’’ I said.   
“Uh… ok! Sure. Goodnight, sleep tight princess.” Jake replied and went to his room. I smiled and went back into my room. I knew that assembling a team won’t be easy, and there are going to be many sleepless nights afterwards, therefore I slept as comfortably as I could that night.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early. As I went downstairs, I saw Jake and my dad sipping coffee together. It looked like they were having quite a discussion about… CBI? My dad saw me and said teasingly, “Good morning honey! You up already? To impress Jake?” Jake looked at me with his regular sleepy morning eyes. I rolled my eyes at both of them as they laughed and said, “Shut up both of you…” It also looked like Jake and my dad got along really well… I felt like a proud woman after seeing the two men of my life getting along, yeah I know, sometimes my feelings could be ridiculous. Jake smirked at me and patted at a seat for me to sit. My dad already went into his room. “We have to start searching, it won’t be an easy search.” Jake said in a concerned tone. “Yeah…” I said.


	4. The Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Assembling a team is not as easy as they thought. Will they keep their cool?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a wordpress blogger, if you like this chapter, you can follow me on the following link:  
> www.theillusionalnarration.com
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> I am having some issues, therefore, if the site doesn't open in once, please come back and click again!  
> Thank you for reading, He Knew...

[THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MENTIONS OF REAL LIFE PAST OPERATIONS, EVERYTHING IS FICTIONAL, PLEASE DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING SERIOUSLY.]

I went into my room, I was overwhelmed. Not excited, but just… I simply felt that I wasn’t ready for all of that. Maybe I wasn’t army material. The door of my bedroom was open, Jake saw me and knocked the door, “Princess, you alright?” He asked, in a concerned tone. I was always so comfortable with him, but that day, I just wasn’t able to speak, it felt like I forgot speaking because of my shame. The only thing that came from my mouth was, “Yeah…” He looked at me, his brows were furrowed as if I slapped him without any reason. 

“Look Princess, I know you love to doubt yourself, but how many times have I told you to not be Tigress! You are an amazing person and a great soldier… do you really want me to say that ‘together we can do this’ stuff, you know that throws out my Aura!” He said genuinely, no sarcasm, no pain, no anger, nothing. That was the reason I liked him, whenever he used to feel anything, it will always be one feeling at a time… well there are some moments that prove this wrong, but again… no one is perfect. He always knew what to say to make me feel better. He was the perfect imperfect person I wanted to be with.  
“Sorry, I was overwhelmed by the fact that I had come so far that now I have to make a team…” I said. I was relieved by that time. He gave me an, ‘it’s ok’ expression by his looks and went to his room.

I managed to find an excuse to get out of my house with Jake for work. Man! Keeping the mission classified was tough! Jake chuckled as we both got inside my car. “What?” I asked, laughing with him.

“Nothing! Your parents are great people, never ever leave them behind…” He trailed off.   
“Yeah, yeah trust me, I would never.” I replied.  
“So, how many people were there on your list Top-Gun?” I asked.  
“Somewhere around ten to twelve… how many were there in yours?” He replied.  
“What? Then how are we going to cover my list?!” I asked in astonishment… that was too much.  
“How many are there on your list?” Jake asked me after looking at my inhuman expression formed by hearing those numbers.  
“Well I require people from many fields such as, a geologist, physical chemist, molecular and”--Jake’s jaw was dropping as I was mentioning more fields—“structural biologist, a chemical engineer, somebody who is an expert in quantum physics, and some more” I said, infuriatedly. Jake stayed silent for a moment, and then he said, “Well I only have one solution for this problem I guess… I narrow down my list and you narrow down yours.”   
“I’m not following, how am I supposed to narrow down the list of required scientists for the test?” I asked, confused. Trying to focus on the road, not even sure where we were going.

“Well, I’m pretty sure you don’t want all of them, do you? Look it through, we were about to make selections between the people of same fields to choose the better one, right? We can simply narrow down and meet only particular people, by digging through their profiles and finding out who would be the best for the job.” Jake said, confidently. I considered the solution.

“What about their personalities? I mean, not everyone is very sweet and kind who would do whatever we want, and plus, we might be asking them to risk their lives!” I asked, eventually realizing the fault in my query.  
“Princess, think about this… we are not going to make friends, we are going to assemble a team, right now, we couldn’t care any less about their sweetness or kindness here!” Jake said, suddenly irritated. I nodded without questioning, I knew why he was frustrated… I did ask a very silly question. “Let’s just stop by the Double Tap Bar and lay out all the profiles.” Jake said.

“Hey Joey, we are supposed to keep the mission classified, not discuss it publicly.” I objected.  
“Ohh… right. Well I guess, we just have to go back your home, discuss it in one of the rooms or I don’t know… the dining table?” Jake said in a confused tone. He looked, beauteous whenever he was confused, fiddling with the dog tags and making a certain expression that could clearly show the quarrel of ideas happening in his mind. I turned the car towards the direction of my house, and drove back.

When I reached home, I saw my mom watching AME- America’s Most Eligible on TV. I never understood what did she even liked in that show, it was just a competition between some American bachelors who competed to win the title of America’s most eligible ‘DATE’. What could have been more nonsense than that?   
“You both are home early!” My mom said.

“Actually, we decided to work at home instead of going to Double Tap, I am going to make some coffee for us and we would be in my room, is that alright?” I asked.

“You both go and work in your room, I’ll bring the coffee.” My mom said, grinning ear to ear, I didn’t like her expressions whenever she was in her teasing mode. “Thanks mom.” I replied and we went upstairs. We both reached in my room, I sat on the chair of my desk facing towards the bed on which Jake was sitting. I opened my laptop, and before sitting against Jake, I hid my home videos, I seriously didn’t want to go through that phase, where he sees me playing an imaginary game with an imaginary villain and imaginary friends.   
I always liked to play alone at my home. In school, I played with my group of friends but I liked to stay alone at home in my own world. Anyways, I sat down and opened the documents of the list of scientists I required, there were many of them, Michelle Nguyen, Joseph Rodriguez, Raj Bhandarker, Aliester Rourke, Grace Hall, and Caleb Morgan. Jake’s list was also filled with many people like, Estela Montoya, Sean Gayle, Quinn Kelly, Craig Hsiao, Zahra Nazami, and Diego Soto. We sat down and started sorting out each person’s file, Jake started first, “Well technically I needed only 3 people, so here it is:  
1\. Estela Montoya – CIA agent, known for her part in the investigation of the Srebrenica massacre (1995). She was the reason the team found out about the pictures from the spy satellite during the mission. She is also known for her smooth handling of explosives and clearing evidences, which mean, she can even trace those for us.  
2\. Diego Soto – Another CIA agent, known for his part in the investigation of 9/11, in New York. He has abilities of silence, like unsaid manipulation and other things.  
3\. Craig Hsiao – Navy commander, also known by the codename whale, Known for the high rankings during the missions and also to be said that he is an expert in free style combat.  
4\. Sean Gayle – Navy Rear Admiral, known by the codename stingray, known for his part in Operation Enduring Freedom. Also known for his leadership, and the advantage for us would be that many soldiers are influenced by the personality, it would help us in getting more task forces.  
5\. Zahra Nazami – Air Force, Master Sergeant. Known by the codename, crane. Known for technical skills in the missions. Also known for great teamwork. She is a known hacker.  
6\. Quinn Kelly – Air Force, Major. Known by the codename, Eagle. Great leadership, known for the reasoning abilities and effective intelligence. Respected among the higher leagues, because she once saved the Governor of California, by the attack of the ‘Extinctionists’.

“So we have to choose one CIA agent, one Navy Person, and one Air force person?” I asked for confirmation.

“Yes, this is my narrowed down list, and we still have to choose.” Jake replied. My mom came in the room with two cups of coffee, my reflexes acted out of the surprise, and I abruptly closed the computer and turned over all the paper work. “Don’t worry, I won’t peek into your little secret! Here, take your cups.” My mom said, still smiling. She made a cappuccino for me and a black coffee for Jake. “Well, Jake, once you both are done with your work, could you come downstairs for a minute?” My mom asked in a polite tone. I was confused, why would she call Jake downstairs and not me? 

“As you say Mrs Danvers.” Jake replied with the same frequency of politeness. My mom left the room, “Okay, so let’s see, for CIA agent, I prefer the Montoya girl, she seems to have good experience, and I guess she can also help with the test, with the explosives and all.” I said.   
“Well she is a good choice. I have heard that she keeps contacts with many useful people. The Diego guy seems nice too, but let’s see, we will meet Estela, and if she accepts the mission then we will go on with her.” Jake replied.

“I also think that the Rear Admiral, will be useful if you are judging by experience and youthful aggression, I would need the protection of the navy if we are going to go on an island.” Jake continued.

“Yeah… it would be a good choice, he has been in Operation Enduring Freedom, and that is a huge deal, plus looking at his photo he seems hot!” I said, professional at first and a bit teasing in the end. I saw Jake grimacing uncomfortably. I chuckled. 

“And for the air force… I suggest Kelly, she has a higher position, plus if she has fought the ‘Extinctionists’ then she is definitely capable for the team, I have fought those bastards myself, they are not easy to take down.” Jake said, his mood was suddenly shifted to disgust and nostalgia. 

“I was going to say that too. I seriously got offended when you even thought to include a hacker in your list even though I am sitting just beside you!” I said. We both sat silently, taking notes and reaching for contacts. Finally Jake broke the silence. “Okay, I have called the three of them in San Francisco and I have told them to meet us at the Twin Peak on three different dates and during noon, since no one would be there during the noon time.” He said. I nodded in the ‘okay’ expression. “So, would you like to complete your list now or after my list?” he asked. 

“Well it’s almost 7pm, my mom would be making dinner, I think I should go and help her.” I said   
“Okay, then I would be downstairs and then in my room. I have to catch up with Rebeca anyway. We will sort your list tomorrow, and we have to meet Estela a day after tomorrow.” Jake said.

“Okay, say hi to Rebeca from my side.” I said. Jake nodded and went downstairs. I followed behind. As we reached downstairs I saw a set of DVDs kept on the table. I was horrified, the home videos! My mom called both of us to sit by her side on the couch. I put my face in my hands and sat down on the couch. They both laughed at my videos, the way I was unaware of dad making the video, and I playing and fighting imaginary villains as the action hero of my imaginary movie. There were many more but I managed to get them out of the phase early. Jake teased me by repeating my video actions and then went upstairs to call Rebeca.

“So, how is it going between you and him?” my mom asked in her motherly concerned tone.

“Well, we are not dating or anything, it would be very undisciplined for us. We are good friends and I am fine with it. When will dad return home?” I replied. 

“But my question is, are you happy? Your dad will come home late today, the business is not going in its best stage.” Mom said.

“Ohh… and yes mom I am happy. I don’t know what he feels about me, but even being his friend is fine by me. Now enough with this talk, let’s make dinner.” I said. I was irritated.   
By the fact that she reminded me the uncertainty I had about Jake’s feelings for me. We both made the dinner in a silence. I was tensed about the team listing even when I was about to go to sleep. Therefore I decided to go and sit at my porch, I used love that place whenever I needed space. The night wasn’t too dark, it was a full moon. The wind was breezy but not cold. I kept my hair untied. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I never figured out the reason behind my sudden cries. I sat there, thinking. Several thoughts were roaming in my mind. Mom, dad, team, military, Jake, Mrs McKenzie, Rebeca, Arista and many other things. I wasn’t even sure what I was doing out there on the porch at 2am of the night. As I went inside the living room, I saw my dad watching me wipe my tears. “Sooo… how was the thinking session?” dad asked.   
“I don’t know.” I said. He came and hugged me tightly. My dad was the one person who understood me without my words, I loved him so much that sometimes it hurted staying away from him for so long, and he didn’t say anything, I kept hugging him as I cried at his chest. “It’s going to be alright honey.” He said at last.   
“I know, but it just… hurts a lot. And I don’t even know what is hurting me dad.” I said, I was still sobbing.  
“You are 26, Elena. You will figure it out soon… there is no rush, there never is.” He replied, caressing my hair. I relaxed and went to sleep. By the next day, I and Jake were done with my list. I was always very choosy in almost everything, so my list was slightly easy to select.

1\. Dr Michelle Nguyen – Molecular and Structural Biologist, also trained in internal medicine.   
2\. Dr Joseph Rodriguez – Physical Chemist and expert in Quantum Physics.  
3\. Aliester Rourke – Known geologist who is still working on his Ph.D.  
4\. Grace Hall – Chemical engineer. Has a lot of experience.  
I wasn’t totally sure about the list, but that was the most we could do to narrow it down. Finally, the time came to meet the soon-to-be-recruits…


	5. Harmony (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are going to meet their first soon to be recruit. Will she cut for it?

I and Jake got ready for meeting Estela Montoya, I wore a simple sky blue jeans, a navy blue V-neck T-shirt and a chocolate coloured leather jacket. We reached Twin Peaks at sharp 12pm. We saw Estela standing at the peak of the cliff. She was a tall girl, almost as tall as me (I’ve been told that I am like a giant), oval faced, big brown eyes, and had straight long hair tied in a ponytail. She was wearing a sea blue hoody, over a plain white crop top and black jeans.

“Agent Montoya.” She said, in a professional tone.

“Well hello Miss Agent, I am Colonel Wolf, and this is Colonel Dragon!” Jake teasingly introduced us.

“I am sorry, but don’t call me that, I don’t prefer mockery during important business.” Estela replied.  
She was straightforward and enthusiastic about her job. I liked that.

“I’m sorry about him, so we called you here for a military mission, we would like to offer you a place in the team for the mission.” I said. Jake’s face was professional or in other words, expressionless.

“Okay, so can I know the details for it?” She asked.  
“I know that you have done many things, but still we want to test you to know if you are up for this.” I said. I realized that my tone was very dominating and strong at that moment.

“As you say, if you want to test me, then come on, a one-on-one fight, with either of you.” Estela replied, smirking.

“Fine, one-on-one it is, we will test about your other abilities later.” I agreed with her.

“You won’t need to.” She said. “We’ll see about that.” I said. I removed my jacket, I was glad that I wore comfortable clothes. We both shook hands and got into position. Jake stood between, but away from us. Acting as the judge. We both went running towards each other, by her movements I realized that she was going to play defensive. I started with the basics – punches, blocks and kicks. Slowly the fight started to get heated. She blocked my moves several times, either by backflips or by simple movements. I aimed to attack at her thighs and that time when she moved to backflip, I caught her leg by surprise that made her hit the ground. I observed that she was pissed, like I blocked her signature move or something, she swiftly got back up and in no time she reached behind me and caught me by the waist. She held it tight. I thought fast and loosened her grip by creating pressure at her forearms. She was caught off-guard and I used that moment to quickly backhand her and pressed her to the ground. Jake stopped the fight, 

“Well, it looks like dragon won this round Montoya.” He said.

“Yeah it seems so.” Estela replied, her expression unreadable. It was like I saw the female version of Jake when we met first time, but since it was professional, I didn’t mind.

“Let’s play hide and seek.” Estela said.

“Excuse me?” I asked. Slightly irritated. Was it a joke to her?

“Trust me, hide in a good place, anywhere in the whole block, I will find you in 10 minutes.” She said. She sounded very confident about whatever she was talking about.

“Go hide Princess, I’ll stay here to see if she doesn’t cheats. Send me a thumbs up emoji when you are done hiding.” Jake said, grinning.

“Oookaay…” I said, wasn’t sure what she was going for.

I went downhill and found a small cabin, which seemed like a supply room of a costume shop. I found big feathered hats and some t-shirts in some opened boxes. Therefore I didn’t think to go far, I put on one of the t-shirt which was oversized, but I managed to make it look like a sweatshirt. Wore a big feathered hat (glad that it was noon), and put on sunglasses. I stood by a crimson coloured sports car that matched the personality of my disguise and texted Jake a thumbs up emoji. I saw Estela and Jake coming downhill in just 5 minutes. I didn’t look in their direction, I acted like I was playing with my phone. I felt someone tapping my shoulders. “Found you.” I heard Estela’s voice. I turned towards her, Jake saw me wearing the big feathered hat and howled a laughter. 

“How did you figure it out that it was me?” I asked, surprised.

“Well, it was a pretty good disguise but check the inside of your own t-shirt from the back side.” She said, smirking. I reached the back side of my t-shirt and found a tracking device stuck in it. “Wow! Colour me impressed Montoya, but how did you do it?” I replied in astonishment.

“While you were busy thinking that I was pissed, when I got behind you, I placed the tracker first, then held your waist.” She said.

That was impressive. I guess I underestimated her. She was perfectly capable for the job.  
“Well, consider yourself hired Katniss!” Jake said, smirking, and impressed. “Katniss?” Estela asked. “Get used to it, he has a nickname syndrome, I can’t help it, I am living with the nickname ‘Princess’ for a year now.” I said.

“Fine, I will manage. Thank you very much for the opportunity.” Estela replied formally. It was the first time I saw her smiling. We were with her for at least 2 hours, and that was the first time Jake was able to scratch the surface. 

“The pleasure is all ours.” I said. I told her the details for the mission. We shook hands with her and went to separate ways. 

“Sooo… who is next?” I asked Jake.  
“Tomorrow, Rear Admiral Stingray – Sean Gayle at 5pm.” He said.  
“Why in the evening?” I asked.

“I actually forgot to tell you, I am going to meet Rebeca and my brother-in-law tomorrow at around 11am, so I would return by 3 or 4pm.” He replied.  
“Oh, have fun then. Oh and one more thing, you are not supposed to stay at my house for free.” I said. “I was wondering when you will remember that, so how much would be the rent?” He said. “Rent? I have much worse in my mind!” I smirked. “You will have to buy all the groceries from your own money for the time you would be staying here. The list would be provided by Mom!” I said, I was gladly enjoying saying that. “Fine, I guess I can manage that.” he answered with the expression I was expecting for. We drove back home and reached there around 4pm. 

The day went by quick after that, I double-checked my list, made waffles for myself and mom… Jake hated waffles. I also spent some time applying cream on my bruised thigh and ankle, Estela gave me tough fight. Dad was mostly never at home due to his office trips. Then in the evening I called Arista, and asked her if we could meet somewhere next day. We then decided to meet at Phil’s Coffee. Arista was also an analytical chemist, but she followed her passion of Art, like… paintings and designs and all. Therefore, the whole block was covered with her creations on the walls. She was considered a big personality in the area.   
The next day, I got ready in casual clothes, and was about to leave the house at 10am when suddenly Jake asked, “You goin’ somewhere Princess?” 

“No, was just planning to do some gardening.” I said sarcastically.

“Anyway, have fun.” He recognized the sarcasm and replied.

“I am going to meet my friend Arista, if mom asks, inform her.” I said. He gave me a thumbs up and I left the house. I decided to go by foot, and reached there in 45 minutes. 

“Elena!” I heard her excited voice.  
“Risty, Hi! It’s so nice to see you!” I said. She came running towards me and hugged me tightly. She was a pure European, brunette hair, porcelain skin, light brown eyes and bright pink lips. She was very girly. She wore a peach, off-shoulder top with a white pinafore dress and a winter coat over it, a charm bracelet and silver hoop earrings.

“Where were you? You didn’t call me in like… 5 months!” She said.  
“I’m military, remember?” I said teasingly. She punched me in the arm playfully. “Anyways, how are you?” I asked. I was very happy to see her. She was the type of girl who knew what she owned and she owned it with a swag. 

“I’m fine, just looking for my other half, I’m 26 and I’m still not married, can you believe it?!” She said, while looking through the menu. “Yes, I can.” I said. She rolled her eyes. 

“You don’t want to get married, that is a whole different thing, here I am not finding any gals, it’s like all the girls in the town are either teenagers or they are married!” She said, dramatically waving both of her hands. I gave her a long sigh. “I never said, that I didn’t want to get married.” I said, 

“Oh please Elena, whenever I even thought of marriage, you were like, ‘what’s the point in settling in’. And speaking of settling…” She smiled mischievously at me. I knew that she was going to ask me about Jake, and still I wasn’t ready for her questions.

“How is Jacob?” She asked, thank goodness, it was a casual question.

“Fine, he is staying at my house… he didn’t have anywhere else to stay… right now he went to meet his sister.” I replied. Arista was the person, in front of whom I always blabbed out my mind even though I didn’t want to. Force of habit. “Okay, Elena, you are a very fast cat…” She said flashing her white teeth. “He is not sharing my room with me, I provided him with another room! Get your mind out of the gutter Risty!” I said. Her face fell disappointedly. 

“Okay, we can work with it, but have you at least told him about your feelings for him?” She asked, intrigued.

“No! I have explained you several times Arista! It will ruin—” I was completing my sentence when she cut in, “—your professionalism, I know, you have said this line a hundred times, literally!”

“But you have tell him someday, or catch someone else, you can’t live in this angst forever!” she continued.

“No need, I am good… and he is not some stuff whom I can catch!’’ I said, why did it have to be only Jake about whom we talk about? 

“Anyways… What are you up to nowadays?” I asked. The waiter came to us for taking our orders, I ordered a chocolate cold coffee and Arista stuck to the classic cappuccino.   
“Nothing, I am planning to book a hall and organize an art exhibition for my creations… Before you called yesterday, I was just thinking for the colour of the walls, I want everything to be perfect!” She said excitedly. 

“Wow! It seems like you have been doing great so far! I’m in SF for a month, if you need my help just give me a call.” I replied.

“I’ll just pick you up from your house anyway! But… you are staying here for a month? Is the Drax guy alive? He never gives you a leave for more than a week or two!” She said in a surprise. 

“Yeah he is alive… actually, I won’t be getting any leaves for at least 6 months after this, which is why he allowed us to take a month leave.” I hoped that this excuse would convince her easily.

“6 months!” She was dumbfounded. A bit of an overreaction.

“Yeah… Risty, I am in the army, I think this is totally normal.”

“Why did you had to hack the college files anyway? You could have been living a happy life by now if you didn’t… this is all my fault!”

“Shut up! I am very happy and thankful for being in the army because of you! You are living your dream of being an artist and I am living my dream of being the part of something big and important!” I said.

“But still… don’t you want to… be an analytical chemistry scientist and get the Mansingh internship at the Hall enterprises?” She asked.  
“I wanted to, but now I am getting something better, that’s a good thing. I don’t need to go on coffee runs for any senior, whatever I do matters to everyone, I am not nobody now… I am a colonel. And I still study analytics which is and will come in handy.” I said as calmly as I could.

“Fine! You win.” She said dejectedly. “I know. I always do.” I smirked. We sipped our coffee and talked for whole another hour. After we got out of the café, Arista insisted upon going to the old age homes. I and Arista always used to go there and play games with the elderlies, sometimes it was the best to stick to the classics. We both played chess, pool, monopoly, and some outdoor games like golf, with our elderly friends Bailey Shaw, Edmund Montessori, Regina Silva, etc. These people were the perfect example of ‘How to live life until you hit the grave.’ We both said our goodbyes and reached home around 2pm in the noon. “So, can I finally meet Jake?” Arista asked. “Sorry Risty! He won’t be home for another hour or 2 at the very least… he went to meet Rebeca, remember?” I said.

“Oh… Well then—” She was about to speak when her phone buzzed. “Hello… yeah…fine I will be there in 20 minutes.” She spoke on the phone.  
“Sorry, I have to go to meet my assistant, he has got the decorator at hall, and I need to meet him or her ASAP. I will call you later, take care! Bye!” She said in a hurry. “Bye! Do call me later!” I said. She ran away in the east. I smiled and went back inside my home. In two hours, Jake returned home with a satisfactory smile on his face. I was watching Batman vs. Superman: The Dawn of Justice on my laptop. He got refreshed, we had our evening snacks and headed out to meet Sean Gayle. We reached the Twin Peaks at 4:55pm. We were meeting a Rear Admiral, we had to behave to like disciplined people.


	6. Intimacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is getting assembled day by day, but there was something about to go wrong or right? Who Knows...

He reached there at sharp 5:00pm. We saluted him and he did the same. “This is Colonel Dragon, and I am Colonel Wolf. We are honoured to meet you sir!” Jake said with full enthusiasm. Rear Admiral gave us a nod and introduced himself, “Rear Admiral Stingray… nice to meet both of you.” He said. He was a tall man, very tall actually… around 6’5. He was dark toned. He had brown eyes, square shaped face, and short curly dark brown hair. He wore a white coloured t-shirt and black pants. He had a muscular body. All the three of us found a table and sat around it. 

“Well, wolf… what was it that you called me urgently for?” Sean asked. “Call me Jacob Mr Gayle, actually, we both have been given an important mission in which we needed Navy’s help.” Jake replied.

“Then call me Sean… and is it about the mission for which Crab went to Washington D.C. for two months?” He asked.

“Yes Sean… Call me Eleanor… and yes, it is the one and only.” I said. We didn’t test Sean, he was basically at a higher position than us even though it was the navy, so we didn’t doubt his capabilities. All we needed was his approval to work with us in the mission. We told him about all the details of the mission, from La Huerta to Testing Zekonium. At last, he gave us a nod and said, “Fine, I will work with both of you, it’s been a long time since I did something exciting. But I will do it on one condition.” Sean said.

“Ookayy… what is it?” I asked.

“I will work with both of you only if… I will be the lead of the protection mission.” He said. We both were shocked for a moment, then I said abruptly, “I am sorry, we can’t do that… General Drax himself ordered us to lead the mission. And Jacob is appointed for leading the protection mission!”

“You don’t think I would be a better person at his job?” Sean said and chuckled. I was irritated by now but Jake stopped me and said, “It is totally fine by me Stingray, I will inform about this change to General Drax. We respect and need you for this mission, this is the least we could do.” Jake said, I could easily recognize the agony behind his voice.

“You don’t need to.” Sean said.

“And why is that?” Jake asked.

“Because I was just testing both of you, observing how much seriously you do take this mission, Long term missions can’t be handled with irresponsibility, that’s it.” Sean said calmly. I was angry, he really had me worried for a second. All the three of us laughed at this moment to get the tension out of the environment. We shook hands with him and parted ways. I and Jake reached home around 7pm. Mom started making dinner. We got refreshed, and dad came home by 8pm. We all sat for dinner, it was BBQ meatloaf for dinner. Its smell removed all my stress.

“So… what are you both up to nowadays?” Dad asked.

“Yeah… even I wanted to ask that, you both are barely here!” Mom added. “Well…um… today I went to meet Arista and Jake went to meet his sister.” I said. “Yes, it was very nice to catch up with her after the events my family faced.” Jake said.

“Oh… and what about yesterday?” My mom asked, nosy as always.

“Yesterday we went to Twin Peaks.” I managed to say. Barely. My mom and dad shared a brief glance for a split-second, but enough for me to notice. The rest of the dinner went into the small chit chats about dad’s work and other small things. After the dinner, I went to Jake’s room. “Hey Top-Gun, can I come in?” I asked. 

“Sure! It’s your house anyway!” He said while smiling.

“I just wanted to say, don’t take my parents’ expressions and implications seriously, they are just very teasing…” I said and trailed off. “What teasing are you mentioning? The thing about us?” He said. I was shocked at his mentioning of ‘us’. 

“What? You don’t think that we are something?” He asked, concerned. I was still frozen. “What do you mean by ‘us’?” I finally managed to ask him. “I mean, haven’t you noticed? After all that we have shared, the memories, the pain, the anger, and most importantly, the happiness…” He said, his face was tender. “Jake… I…” I trembled. Fuck! This was the moment he chose, not during the trek, not after his story of the air force, not after his mother’s death, not at any other moment but this, when I was feeling awful about the uncertainty of his feelings for me. 

“Princess, no— Eleanor! Talk to me, am I something to you?” He asked again. “Yes Jake, Yes… you are, but understand me, we can’t do this, we are colonels, the country depends on us, and we are not normal citizens! We can’t just do whatever we want!” I outbursted, I wasn’t able to hold back. 

“Elena, you are very important to me, I love you! Why can’t we just damn professionalism in its face and have a happily ever after!” Jake said.  
I was momentarily shocked after hearing the ‘L-word’ from his mouth. “Are you hearing yourself Jacob? You went to military school your whole life to get to the place you are now!” 

“Yeah I know, but I am ready to leave all just for you!”

“Jake, you don’t have to! Please! Don’t put me in the spot. Talking all this romantic stuff won’t make my duty less important for me, it’s my first priority and it always will be my first priority…” I said trying to compose myself. “Stuff?” Jake said.

“That is what I am to you? Stuff? Elena, you mean the world to me, don’t you understand that?” 

“Jake…”

“All I need is a yes, and I will get you every happiness I could afford!” He said. 

“Jake, it will ruin everything I have worked for my whole 4 years! Do you have any idea how have I reached this level where the Special Forces assigned me? I can’t jeopardize it because of my feelings for you! Professionalism is not created to be damned, it’s created to maintain Decorum and Respect!” I said in a raged tone.

“I know you won’t, you just won’t have to! I am not going to make an announcement in front of the whole world and say that ‘I am getting married to my partner.’ Who will know about us?”

“Married?! Jake we are not even dating, what the hell is going on with you? You never behave like this.” I said.

“It’s because I have never felt the same things for anyone else before! The word Marriage implies how much damn serious I am about you!” He said, his face was red, and tears welling up in his eyes. He just made it so complicated for me to say anything to him. “Jake please understand me.” I begged.

“Fine! I am not going to give you the definition of love, I don’t think you will understand it’s depth with such shallow thoughts!” Jake replied. His line hit me hard in the chest, how could he be so mean even though he has been through this phase?

“Have you not learned your lesson after what Jeanine did to you? How could you even say like that?” I asked, I was hurt, my voice broke.

“Elena, you are nothing like her. I know you, but again… I know proving my point isn’t worth it, now that I know how you really feel about me!” he answered. My eyes were glassy, I could feel my cheeks burning with hot blood of rage and pain.

“Now get out of the room.” He said. “You said it’s my house, I’ll stay anywhere I want.” I said with fuming thoughts. “I have to sleep, I don’t have time for this, just go.” He said.

“Sleep?” I asked, “Sleep, Jake..? Sleep?!” I asked again. My eyes were red by that moment. “Yes! Now please… I am begging you! Get out of here!” He said harshly. I closed the door of his room silently, trying not to disturb Mom and Dad. I went running to my room, holding back my tears. I locked my door and sat on my desk. I cried, I cried a lot, even when I was trying to stop, I just couldn’t. 

I was awake the whole night… I thought, why did he overreact at this thing? Was I really that important to him? I mean I know guys also have feelings but a tough guy like Jake behaved really unpredictably. Wasn’t my feelings were enough complicated for me? I was so frustrated, I knew how to react silently, so I started to throw things around that barely made a whisper when they hit something. I opened my laptop and started typing to myself, all feelings – pain, anger, frustration, confusion, realization, everything. I went to a jog at 5am in the morning to clear my head, and I ran so fast, that I reached the Sutro Tower in just 2 hrs. It took me 3 hours to get back home walking. Thank goodness that my red swollen eyes got back to normal by the time I reached home.

I rang the doorbell. My dad opened the door, “Where were you sweetheart? We all were worried about you!” He said. He saw me all sweaty from the jog and the walk, he let me in and closed the door behind me. I saw Jake, he was behaving like nothing even happened last night. He got a cold stare from me. He was having breakfast with my parents. I ran upstairs, I was able to notice that dad saw my tired eyes. I got fresh and changed. By the time I was downstairs my parents already left the kitchen. It was just Jake. I ignored him and went to make myself a breakfast. “Oh, so now I am getting the silent treatment? By the way, your breakfast is on the table.” He said. I ignored him and sat against him. My jam bread (I was still childish) was in my favourite plate. I started eating it, “How is it?” he asked, I didn’t reply. “I made it for you as an apology for whatever I said yesterday. I was very rude to you, I shouldn’t have said those things to you. But whatever I said, I meant all of it, I mean, the feelings part.” He said. I looked at him, “You made this?” I asked again. “Yup.” He said. “That is why it doesn’t tastes the same. I guess you mixed a bit of depth in it.” I taunted. “Look I am really sorry for whatever I said, I was just hurt…” he said apologetically. “So? Why should I care? I am not even worth of your thoughts.” I taunted again. “Can you please stop being a bitch? I know you are very mad at me and I am trying to fix it.” He said.

“When did you get the time to practice all of this?” I asked.

“I didn’t practice, I literally slept last night, that’s it.” He answered.

“Slept? I was awake the whole night Jake! Crying… I didn’t even cry that much in my first break-up!” I said angrily. He looked directly in my eyes. “I know… I came around your room to check if you were asleep or not.” He said. “Seriously?! Now you have started to even spy on me?” I asked.

“No, I came not to spy. I came to see because I care. I am so much in love with you that even after fighting with you, I couldn’t care less about you. I am really very sorry for out bursting on you last night.” He said. “I know that you love your work more than anything, but even if I get the second place in your heart, I am fine by it. I respect you and your priorities.” He continued.

“Jake… please… just stop…” I tried to say it out loud.

“I know that all of my lines seem like a romantic drama shit to you, but whatever I am saying, I mean it. You really mean the world to me, whatever you said about Jeanine didn’t hurt me, I am immune to that fact, but I know that you are not Jeanine. Jeanine was not there with me when I came to army, you were. She was not there with me when I opened up about Mike, you were. She was not there with me when my mom died, you were, she was not there with me whenever I did something wrong, you were. You were always there for me, which is why you mean the world to me. I am not some random guy who knows how to play a guitar and impress a girl by giving her a rose. I am Jake, Elena… and I am here.” He said. I didn’t know what to say at that moment. “Where are Mom and Dad?” I asked.

“They went for getting groceries.” He replied.  
“Oh…” was all I could say. Jake held my gaze for a minute and then went into his room. I ate my breakfast silently drowning in my thoughts. I ran upstairs into his room. “Top-Gun?” I knocked. He opened the door. “Yes?” he asked. 

“Let me in?” I asked again. He opened the door for me to get inside. He was really very embarrassed about whatever happened last night. “Sooo…” I said. “Sooo…” He repeated.

“I love you too Jacob.” I finally said it out loud. He looked at me, his eyes wide in shock. “I know what I said to you last night, but I thought about it…” I continued. “Are you really serious about this?” I asked. “Yes. Cross my heart.” He said. “But I want you to know that our work will come first and then our relation. If you agree with me, then I can find a way to work this out.” I said. I could see tears of happiness forming in his eyes. “Wow Elena, your words sound like a romantic drama shit to me right now.” He said sarcastically. “Yup, I know… you really want to damn professionalism in its face?” I asked sarcastically. He rolled his eyes. “You just love it when I am sarcastic, don’t you?” I asked teasingly. “You have no idea!” He replied. I saw his genuine smile, now I was sure what was I getting myself into. “We will do this by rules.” I said. “You just know how to remove all the fun from everything, don’t you?” He asked.

“One rule. We’ll always be there.” I said. That was way too CHEESY, but I meant it.

“Again. Cross my heart.” He said. Smiling. Jake started to say something, “I love…--” I stopped him in mid-sentence and kissed him. He didn’t hesitate, he was melted in it. He kept his hand on my waist, holding me tight against him and deepened the kiss. We kept kissing until we had to pull back for air. I blushed, BADLY. He was blushing too. “That was… amazing and… unexpected.” He finally said. “You complaining?” I asked teasingly, before replying me, he pulled me into another kiss, it was more passionate and fevering this time. I was feeling like I was in the seventh heaven at that moment. “Mister, who is it we are going to meet today?” I asked. “Quinn Kelly. Air force Major…” He replied. “At what time?” I asked. “Around 2pm in the noon…” He answered.

“What should we do till then?” I asked again mischievously.

“You tell me.” He said. We did some chores together, Dish-washing by ourselves, dusting, and cleaning our rooms, etc. Mom and dad were home by 11:30am. Everything felt normal after that moment. And then clock stroke 2pm when we reached the Twin Peaks.  



	7. Harmony (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After taking a big step into a totally different path, how will Elena and Jake handle the situation?

We sat in the same booth where we sat with the Rear Admiral. Quinn came to us, she looked like flower petal-girl. She was red haired, her face was oval but her chin was pointed, unlike Estela. She had big black eyes and was fair in colour. She wore a white shirt which was knotted to make it a crop shirt, and blue denim shorts. “Hello Colonels! I am Major Eagle!” She said. Her enthusiasm was… well… Appreciated. “Hello Major Eagle, I am Colonel Dragon and this is Colonel Wolf.” I introduced us to her, shook hands and sat down. “Well, Major… I, would like to provide you an opportunity to work with us on a long term mission. We need air force’s help for this mission, and we think that you would be the best person to handle the air force taskforces.” Jake said.

“Oh, Okay… but Colonel Wolf, you yourself have been in the air force, why not handle it yourself? Or you can simply ask General Lundgren for help.” Quinn asked. I saw Jake’s hand clenching into fists. I kept my hand on his, under the table to calm him down. He relaxed. “Colonel Wolf has been in the air force, but now the army taskforces rely on him, so we need your leadership for air defences. And if the point comes to General Lundgren, we can’t appoint him, He is at a very higher position, and all we can do is inform him.” I replied calmly. Quinn took her time to process everything. “And also, I have fought those ‘Extinctionists’, If you can beat them, then I don’t doubt your capabilities even for a second.” Jake said.

“Mmm… Okay, I will be glad to work with you guys, call me Quinn!” She said.

“Jacob and Eleanor… we will tell you the details for the mission.” Jake said, grinning. We told Quinn about her role in the team and the details of the mission. “Are you guys Vampire and werewolf?” She asked childishly, we stared her blankly, “I mean, Jacob from twilight and Elena from Vampire diaries?” She said, we still didn’t answer her and stared her, “Ok, got it, no magic.” She finally backed off. I started having second thoughts by that point, I mean… she was so delicate, I thought that this wasn’t the mission for her, but since I believed in Jake, he chose her for some reason. 

We shook hands with her and decided to stay at the Twin Peaks. We spent some time together, chit chatting, kissing, pointing out different places from the view, and then we went to Double Tap, Horatio’s Bar to get some drinks. He ordered a martini for himself, and I ordered a neat whiskey. I still wasn’t knowing the feeling I felt when I got myself into this relation, everything just felt… right. We reached home around 8pm at night. “You both are late today, generally you both are home by 7.” My mom said. “Sorry, we decided to hit the bar, and then I took him to the old age home.” I blabbed out. I was so tired after that day… I felt like I was going into a coma. I didn’t sleep last night and ran 5 hours like hell, then some activities, driving, meeting a very new person, then driving again. I didn’t eat dinner, I was too tired to do that, as my mom went to her room to take a bath before dinner, Jake carried me to my room. “You didn’t have to!” I insisted. “Hey, I was the reason you didn’t sleep last night, this is the least I could do!” He replied. After I decided to be in a relationship with him, I saw a very different Jake, the romantic, the soft, the caring and protective Jake, but still, some of his normal self was still with him, like always being on-guard, sass, sarcasm and the never-getting-old-smirk. But before going to sleep, I said, “I will contact the Tony Starks tomorrow.”

“Okay, but I wanted to ask, do you like… want to meet them alone? Because, I am not good at science stuff you know.” He said.

“I thought you were a math guy…” I said, giggling. 

“I am but science… no, not it.” He said. “I want you to come with me, it will create an impression that the mission is very important and the opportunity is very big.” I made him understand. “Okay if you say so.” He replied. “Hey, do you want to meet Arista tomorrow? And go to the old age home I made the excuse about?” I asked, “Naah, maybe some other time, right now, I want to focus on us.” He said and I blushed. “AND the mission, but Okie, your wish.” I said. He gave me a quick peck on the lips, switched off the lights in my room and went downstairs. Damn! I was badly in love with that guy…

The next day, I contacted Michelle, Joseph, Aliester and Grace, and told them to meet us on different days at Phil’s Coffee. The day went as a family bonding (+Jake) day, we all binge watched, the Hunger Games. Mom and Dad had already fallen asleep in the 10th episode. That made it easier for me to scoop up in Jake’s arms and watch it. The next day, we were meeting Dr Michelle Nguyen at the mentioned place. 

We booked a table and waited for her at 5:00pm. She entered the café, she was neither too tall, nor too short, she was fair and blonde, and had hazel brown eyes, she wore heavy make-up, baby pink eye shadow and lipstick. She was wearing a pink shirt, and dark blue denim jeans. I shook hands with her and sat down. “Hello both of you, I’m Dr Michelle Nguyen, I hear you guys are Army Colonels?” she said. “Yes, you have heard right, I am Colonel Eleanor Danvers and this is Colonel Jacob McKenzie.” I said. Jake shook hands with her as well. “So… I heard that you are a Molecular and Structural Biologist. We are in need of people of your kind.” I said. “Ohhh… Okay and..?” She asked. “So we need your help.” Jake answered. “Wait, so you guys want me in a MILITARY mission?” She confirmed. 

“Yes Dr Nguyen. But if you don’t wanna do this then it is totally fine, we are not pushing you to accept this.” I said. “Are you kidding? I am totally in for this.” She said. “You know this is an Army mission, which means your life can be at risk!” Jake said abruptly. “I know, but I am willing to risk it because it is for the country and I want my name to be in the history books or at least you know… in Wikipedia.” She said. We were shocked. “I know that I sound crazy but many scientists go unrecognized, I don’t want that, and also, I am an expert in kick boxing, I know how to fight.” She continued. “Do all the science people know how to be hulk?” Jake asked. “I mean here Maybelline knows how to fight and you knew how to fight before being in the army!” He said. Both I and Michelle started laughing. “Maybelline?” she asked. “He has a nickname syndrome, can’t do anything about it, I have been living with the nickname ‘Princess’ for a year now.” I said. “Oh, don’t worry, I will manage.” She replied. I saw her flirtatious behaviour towards Jake. I was about to cringe but then I saw Jake signalling me to keep calm. We told her about the location and Zekonium, she was very enthusiastic about this. I liked that. We discussed some details and returned back home by 7 as always. 

I informed Jake that we were going to meet Dr Joseph Rodriguez the day after tomorrow. We both changed and had dinner. I went into my room after saying goodnight to Jake. I wasn’t able to sleep…again… (I have to do something about my sudden insomnias) So I went to my thinking spot… the porch. I kept thinking when suddenly I heard a knock, “Princess?” I heard Jake’s voice. I turned back and saw him holding a glass of water. “Top-Gun? Why are you still awake?” I asked, surprised. “Shouldn’t I ask you that question?” He replied. “Don’t answer my question with another question!” I responded. He smirked. [Oof! That smirk!] “I just came downstairs for a glass of water, then I saw you standing outside through the window.” He finally answered. “Oh…” I said. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked in a serious tone. “Nothing, I didn’t want to sleep, that’s it.”

“Really?” He asked. “Yup.” I replied. He came closer to me and kept his hands on my waist. 

”This isn’t about the behaviour Maybelline had towards me, is it?” He asked,

“What?! Of course not, I even forgot about it until you reminded me!” I answered. 

“Because I want you to know that, no one can take your place in me.” He confronted. 

I always found these lines as dialogues but after listening them from his mouth, they didn’t feel cliché. I looked at him, his face was glowing blue in the moonlight. He came closer and kissed me softly. “Whatever it is, that is bothering you, you will figure it out.” He said, his voice was husky and as low as a whisper. “You sound like my dad!” I said and he laughed. 

I closed the distance between us and captured his lips in mine, he held me more tightly than before and kissed me hungrily, I could see desire in his eyes. I delved my hands in his hair. He lifted me as easily as lifting a sack of potatoes, and made me sit on the fence of the porch, still not pulling back. After, a moment we both pulled back, he rested his forehead on mine, 

“I love you Princess…” He said. “Stop talking.” I said, and kissed him fiercely one last time. 

“I love you too Top-Gun…” I finally replied.   
We both sat on the bench for a few more minutes, my head resting on his shoulders. Then we both finally went back into my house and thankfully, no one was awake. I went into my room, and said one last goodnight to Jake then went to sleep. Another day went by quickly in small-small things like cooking, showing my hobbies to Jake, taking him to old memory spots and then finally, as the day passed, the next day, I got ready to meet Dr Joseph Rodriguez.  
We both reached the Café at 5:00pm and saw him seated already. He was as tall as Jake, pale skinned and green eyed. His hair was straight and strawberry blonde. He had a chiselled shaped face and a very sharp jawline. He looked very handsome. He was wearing a simple plain full-sleeved brown shirt and jeans. Though, he had a wrinkled face, like, it seemed, he did not sleep for weeks. I and Joseph had a bit of a history, when we were in college. We went towards him and introduced ourselves, “Colonel Eleanor Danvers and Colonel Jacob McKenzie here, Dr Rodriguez.” I said. He turned towards us and was shocked to see Jake, “Hey, McKenzie, is that you?” He asked.  
“Wait, Short Stuff?” Jake asked, a wide grin was spreading on his lips. They both hugged in the bro-way. “Wait, you two know each other?” I asked. “Yup, we were best friends in military school!” Jake said. “Wow, that was… unexpected.” I said. “I know, but what are you doin’ here Pop Culture?” Jake asked. “I got the call from Colonel Eleanor, who also happens to be my…” He was about to say ex-girlfriend, but I cut him in between and said “Old Friend!” Jake looked at me with a momentarily confusion on his face. “Anyway, Joseph, I called you because we need your help.” I said. “Straight to business huh? Why am I not surprised?” He said. 

“Okay, tell me what you both need.” He said.

“We are looking for a Physical Chemist and Quantum physician.” I said.

“Ohkay, and why is that? Aren’t you a chemical scientist yourself?” he asked. “I am indeed, but I am not a Quantum Physician dummy!” I said, and Jake smirked. I provided the information about Zekonium as much as I could to Joseph. He finally responded. “You know, it’s actually a very interesting case, and plus it is cool… It might be a radioactive element, which we have not discovered yet, or it could be a totally different type of substance which is kind of formed by chemical mutation or some other thing.” He said. 

“Yeah, something like that… whatever. We have to find that whatever.” Jake said.

“When did you became the smart boy McKenzie?” Joseph asked teasingly. Jake rolled his eyes as Joseph understood the intensity of the mission. “So… will you help us?” I asked. 

“Okay, but I might need a refresher for self-defence, I’m a bit rusty, and it has been a long time since I even thought to fight anybody.” He said. “Don’t worry, I will give you the pointers by kicking your butt once again!” Jake said, his expression nostalgic. We were about to leave after discussing the details of the mission when suddenly Joseph said, “Hey…uh, Jake? Do you mind if I borrow Elena for a sec?” Jake hesitated for a split second and then replied, “Yeah, sure.” Jake was waiting outside as Joseph started speaking, “Are you free tomorrow?” He asked.

“That depends, what’s the occasion?” I replied.  
“I know that we decided to stay on good terms after what happened, but I thought about it… would you like to press a reset button?” He asked. He just got a cold glare from my side. “Okay, sorry, just thought to try one last time.” He said. I rolled my eyes and said goodbye to him. As I and Jake sat in the car, he asked. “Sooo… what was that weird behavior about when we were around Short Stuff?” 

“Weird behavior…? What weird behavior?” I asked nervously.

“Princess, don’t play dumb with me, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just that… Joseph and I have history, we both went college together, and we both were together. Our break up was horrible and unreasonable, therefore… after a few months of the break up, we decided to at least stay on good terms, but when I came in the army, my contact with everyone, except Arista, just faded away. The last time I talked to Joseph was like 1 and a half years ago.” I said, my eyes were on the road but it felt relaxing a bit. Jake recovered from his temporary paralysis of astonishment, and cleared his throat. “Well, I’m glad you told me.” That was all he said, his reaction was unexpected. I thought that he would go crazy or something but he didn’t.  
We reached home by 7:00pm as usual. We had our dinner, and it was my turn to clean the table and keep the dishes in the dishwasher. Jake said goodnight and went upstairs. 

“So, how is life sweetie?” Mom asked.

“Nothing new.” I lied gracefully.

“Are you sure nothing is new?” She asked again.

“What are you implying here mom?” I asked her. Oh man! She knew about me and Jake the whole time!

“You and…” a mischievous grin spreading along her lips.

“What?! How did you know?” I asked in a sarcastic tone. But I guess she didn’t notice.

“I am your mother Elena, I know everything about you, and plus I saw you and Jake talking yesterday night at the bench on the porch with Jake resting his hands on your waist.” She replied. “Don’t worry, I’m fine with it, Jacob is a nice Guy.” I blushed after hearing her and was relieved that she didn’t saw me kissing him. I went upstairs and fell asleep immediately when I hit the bed.

The next morning, I was sipping coffee and going through the map of La Huerta, I found 2 lodges where the team and task forces would be able to stay during the time period. The island was a very strategic place, whoever hid there, no one would be able to find anyone. It was full of dense vegetation, who knew what kind of animal life would be found there? And there was Mount Atropo lying at the center of the land form. Suddenly my phone buzzed, it was the number of the landline the army reception had. I picked up the call and it was General Drax, “Dragon, you hearing me clear?” He asked on the phone. I found a quiet and secretive corner in the back yard and said, “Yes General, I can hear you clearly.” 

“I called you to inform you about a sudden change in the mission teams.” He said. My throat dried, what was the problem with the team? “Yes sir?” I directed him to continue. “You have picked the perfect military people for the mission, because of which, General Lundgren was very impressed. That is why he decided that he will be there with you both during your mission with his special team- The Arachnids.” He said. I managed to agree with him and hang up the call, then, the only problem was… how the hell would I inform that to Jake?!


	8. Harmony (part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elena has discovered something, that can ruin the plans for the mission and will also shatter Jake, how will she give him the news?

I was standing in my back yard, dumbfounded. Why the fuck does this always happens to me? I knew one thing, I had to tell Jake about this, no matter what. I came back into the house and suddenly bumped into my dad, “Sorry dad!” I said while I got back up from the floor. “What’s the matter Elena? You look tense?” He asked, concerned. “Uh… it’s nothing, dad.” I lied very ungracefully. He looked at me with his furrowed brows. “Tell me.” He demanded. “Dad, it’s nothing, it’s just about a mission from the military.” I backed off. “Oh, Okay… just don’t stress yourself out, alright?” He comforted me. “Yeah, I won’t.” I said smiling. He never pried about my missions, he knew that everything was classified. And as I went past him, the tension came back. I went to my room and called Aliester Rourke, the geologist, to meet a day early. I informed Jake about Aliester, “Yeah, I called him to meet us today.” I said. “And what is this hurry about?” He asked with calm voice.

“Commander Drax needs updates all the time, I just got a call from him, he also said that he was impressed by the military selection.” I said the partial truth. “Hmm. Okay, I think I can manage this abrupt meeting in my schedule.” He said. “Schedule? What else do you do except for watching Netflix, and calling Rebeca and only sometimes helping me with dinner?” I asked teasingly.

“That is a very packed schedule if you hear yourself!” He said with the same teasing tone. I called Aliester to meet us at 5:00pm at Phil’s coffee. I decided that I will tell him the other half of the truth during the ride back home. Half of my day went in tension and making donuts. I liked to cook to relieve my stress and my mood went with donuts. By 4:30pm I got ready, I wore a decent orange coloured full sleeved frock [I didn’t remember what type was it, I had a very bad fashion sense] with a brown leather belt, for a change. I found my brown long boots. I didn’t even remember when was the last time I dressed like that, was it the winter formal with Joseph? Because whenever I was home, I used to be in my casual clothes – pyjamas. 

I got outside of my house and Jake noticed my outfit. “That is a very tempting dress!” he said and chuckled. “Shut up and get in the car!” I said, I was blushing and grinning as I tucked a lock of my hair behind my ears and sat in the driver’s seat. “Let me drive today, I don’t want anything to happen to that dress of yours.” He said and laughed. “Oh, very funny, I will be driving and the dress will be fine.” I said, and didn’t quite meant what I literally said. “Jake, how many green jackets do you have? You actually wear it everywhere. And I mean it. EVERYWHERE.” I said mockingly. “I have just one, I wash it every day myself. It was a gift from mom on my 25th birthday.” He said, he didn’t get sad anymore, on that topic. He finally accepted the fact that Mrs McKenzie wasn’t there in this world anymore but she was still with him. Was it because of me? My subconscious asked, but I ignored it. We reached there on time and shook hands with Aliester. “Hello, Mr Rourke, I am Colonel Danvers and this Colonel McKenzie.” I introduced us. “Aliester Rourke, nice to meet you.” He said, in a very unenthusiastic tone. I got second thoughts already… 

He was very pale skinned and had black eyes. He had a square shaped face with protruded cheek bones, he had blond hair and wore a white sweater over a white shirt with black pants. He also had a perfect British accent.

“So, what is it you called me for Major, so urgently?” Aliester asked.

“Colonel.” Jake corrected him but he ignored. 

“Mr Rourke, we need your help in a mission, an expert in geology like you.” I said, diplomatically. He smiled, and it looked like I managed to grab his attention. My diplomacy worked! 

“Oh, it is a very tempting offer, working with the military, risking my life for the country.” He said rudely. My diplomacy didn’t work, “It’s ok if you don’t want to be in the team.” I said calmly.

“Of course I don’t want a place in your pathetic team! It is blasphemy and there is a short list of reasons why I don’t want it, number 1: I don’t get to lead whatever you are planning. Number 2: I am very fond of my life, I won’t risk it for anything and Number 3: You both don’t even know how to plan a meeting, a ‘coffee shop’ seriously?” He said. Jake was fuming because of the way he behaved, he was about to step forward but I stopped him. “Oh, I’m sorry if we upset you. You know what? I don’t even wanna work with you, and there is only one reason behind it, number 1 and last: You are a pathetic unprofessional person.” I said with all the cold sarcasm I could with a poker face expression. I glared at him one last time and went outside of the café. Jake rushed behind me and caught up, “Why didn’t you let me punch the teeth out of his mouth?” he asked. “He is not worth it.” I said in an unreadable tone. In 26 years of my life, I learned to protect my self-respect from anyone, no matter who I was or who was I talking to. A friend taught me about it in the freshman year of my high school.

“You know what we need right now?” Jake asked. “What?” I asked. “Ice cream and some alone time.” He said with a small smile. “You mean like a date?” I asked again. “Yup, we have time today, it’s like 5:30 right now, and your mom needs us by 7, it’s a long time.” He answered. I nodded as we got in the car, this time, I let Jake drive us around. We reached at an ice cream parlour. “So, which ice cream do you want?” He asked, “Blueberry.” I said, “That is a very specific answer…” He said went to pick up the ice creams, he got a butterscotch for himself. “Something is wrong Elena, what’s up?” he asked. “There is something I have to tell you.” I replied, he leaned in a bit closer and looked directly in the eyes. “I got a call from Drax this morning…” I started. “He said that he was, very impressed by us.” I continued. “I know that already.” Jake said. 

“I know, but that was one half of what he said…” I replied. “He said that Lundgren was also impressed by us, and he would accompany us on the whole mission.” I finally let it all out. Jake’s face shrank at my mention of Lundgren, “I couldn’t deny him, it would very disrespectful for me…” I said. Jake turned away and went for the door as he rushed outside. I paid for the order and took the ice cream outside…I can’t just leave it there… “Jake! Stop!” I shouted, but he was already too far to hear me. I called him but he switched his phone off. I decided to give him space this time, because like dad said, “There is no rush…there never is.”

I reached home at 6pm, “You are home so early today… Where is Jacob?” Mom asked.

“He uh… went to meet Joseph.” I said. “Your ex?” she asked again. “Yes, they both are high school friends…” I said. “Oh, okay… did you have your evening coffee?” She asked. “No,” I said. “Why?” She asked again. “Well, I ate ice cream.” I answered. “Okay, go take a bath… you look like you need mani-pedi right now.” She said. “No need mom, I will be fine, I am in my room if you need me.” I said and went upstairs. It was only a week our relationship started and it already felt months.

I called Arista, and told her about my 6 day old relationship, I knew that she was going to scream, that is why I already kept cotton in my ears. “So… how does dating feels after five long years?” she asked in an excited tone. “It feels nice.” I said, but the tone was not reaching my mood. “What’s wrong? Is he too protective or obsessed or… a jerk like Joseph?” She asked. “No! He is nothing like him… I am just not in a good mood today.” I said. Arista was really like my dad, she never asked me about any of my missions and always tried to understand me. “Okay, as you say… B-T-W, what are you doing right now?” she asked. “Hmm…well, I am practically talking to you, and other than that, I was just going through my calendar, seeing how many days were left for my holiday.” I answered. Then we talked for another half hour and I went down to check on my mom and see if Jake returned. He still hadn’t. Dad came home by the time of dinner, “Why hasn’t Jacob returned home yet?” Dad asked. “He is with a friend.” My mom said. I called Jake again but this time his phone wasn’t switched off yet he didn’t pick up my call. I texted him…

ME: Where the hell are you?

15 minutes later…

ME: Jake pick up my call!

Another 15 minutes later…

ME: WTF? Jake stop ignoring me, Mom and Dad are starting to worry about you... 

I gave up my hope in him responding back to me, mom and dad already went to sleep…old age… I was continuously looking outside my window for Jake, it was 10:30pm and he still wasn’t home. I was unable to sleep, I changed into my favourite clothes- pyjamas and went downstairs, at the porch, waiting for him. I called him again and he didn’t pick up phone again. By 11:30pm I heard a bike coming towards my house, it was Jake. As he got down and removed his helmet I ran towards him and hugged him so tightly that he might have stopped breathing for a second. 

Before he could hug me back I slapped him tightly. His hair was messy and other than that, everything else seemed normal. “Where were you idiot?” I asked angrily… he didn’t reply, I understood that he wanted me to finish my sentence. “I know it stung you badly that, the rat-ass will be with us in the mission the whole time… but are you nuts? I was so worried! You were out nowhere for almost SIX HOURS… do you hear me, six hours! Even Mom and Dad were worried… and where did you get the bike from?” I was done.  
“Look, I’m sorry I ignored you, I just needed space. I went to Rebeca after I left the parlour and got my bike back, then I was riding everywhere to clear my mind. And you hit me badly, but I think I deserve that.” He said, SMILING. I was totally raged by that time. He let out sigh and said, “I am really sorry Princess.” He finally said it apologetically. “Get inside, or I will make you sleep on the porch” I said. “Coming.” He said. 

We both went into the house. Jake got refreshed and I laid out his dinner, leftovers on the dining table. He started eating. I watched him as he took every bite in his mouth carefully yet messy. “Stop staring at me… I won’t be able to eat.” He said, his mouth full. 

“Yeah whatever…” I said and turned away. I was standing by the refrigerator searching for milk and cookies, I got hungry easily, I got the things I was looking for and consumed it quietly. After we both finished eating Jake said, “So, you mean that Lundgren will be with us all the time?” 

“I guess, that is what Drax meant.” I answered. “Oh…” He replied. I came and sat beside him, my head leaning on his chest and my hands holding his waist, he held me by the shoulders. “I’m sorry I slapped you badly, I should’ve hit you slightly gentler.” I said and giggled. “Well, I totally deserved that, I’m sorry I ruined our date…” He replied.  
“Don’t worry about that, I ate both the ice creams. And BTW, I bought a whole tub of butterscotch, mom and dad also love butterscotch ice cream.” I said. He gave me a small smile. We both sat on the couch silently and leaning on each other. I tilted my head up and kissed him slowly. “You know I am still mad at you for being out for six hours, right?” I asked. “I know…” He replied. We both drifted to sleep on the couch. 

The next morning, Jake woke me up at 4am, “What is it?” I asked.

“I think we should go back to our rooms before your parents see us!” 

“Yeah, right!” We quickly stood up, he kissed my forehead and we both went to our rooms. I woke up slightly delayed according to my schedule. It was 8am in the morning. I came downstairs rubbing my temples. I saw mom and dad working on breakfast, it looked like they were having a moment, which is why I didn’t disturb them. I went to Jake’s room. He was laying on his bed. I kicked his legs, “Wake up sleepy head!” I said. He got up, still sleepy. “Don’t you have other work instead of bothering me all the time?” he said. I rolled my eyes at him and replied, “Hmm… okay, sleep… I came to inform you that, we have to meet Grace Hall the chemical engineer today at 11am.” 

“11am?!” he asked in surprise while yawning. “Yes, you have 3 hours to get ready, have breakfast and meet her.” I replied. He quickly got up and wrapped his arms around my waist, “Hey, what do you think you are doing?” I asked. “Nothing… you just, talk a lot.” He replied. “Go brush your teeth, your morning breath is killing me.” I lied easily. He smirked and went to his bathroom. I left his room. I went back downstairs, I assumed that mom and dad were done with their moment. I sat on the dining table. “What’s there for breakfast?” I asked. “Eggs and Bacon, Dad special.” Dad answered. “Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad…” I said. I almost forgot about their anniversary! Dad always made his special egg and bacon breakfast on their anniversary. “Thank you honey!” They both said. I texted Jake to wish both of them as soon as he came down. Mom and dad never had many people to wish them on their anniversaries, sometimes even I used to forget about it when I was away. There were a few friends of theirs and ARISTA to wish them. It was never a big celebration with cakes and all decorations. “So…when did Jake came back?” Dad asked. “11:30pm”

“And the bike parked outside is his?” Mom asked. “Yup, he called me at night to open the door for him, he didn’t want to disturb you both.” I answered. “Oookaay… and what was that sleeping on the couch together about?” Dad asked and my cheeks flushed. “You… s-saw it?” I stuttered. “Yup, does that mean you both are finally together?” He asked, smiling, ear-to-ear. “Yes…” I blushed redder. They both looked really happy about it. I liked to see them happy. Jake came downstairs casually, “Good Morning everyone and… Happy anniversary Mr and Mrs Danvers.” He said. “Thank you Jacob!” They both said. He went to the kitchen counters and said, “Let me serve breakfast today, and no buts.” they both wanted to argue but Jake already made them sit. Jake became family to all of us very quickly. We all had our breakfast nicely and enjoyed it. 

I and Jake got ready to meet Grace and left the house at 10:30am, as we got in the car, “Do your parents know about us?” Jake asked. “They got to know about it last night, they saw us sleeping on the couch.” I said. Jake got an embarrassed look on his face. “Hey, it’s alright, both of them like you, they don’t have any problem with this.” I comforted him. 

“As you say.” He replied. 

We reached the café on time and met Grace Hall. She was dark toned and had brown eyes. She hand long curly hair, wore a pair of black square glasses and had a round shaped face. She wore an orange V-necked t-shirt and blue jeans. “Hello Ms Hall, I am Colonel Danvers and this is Colonel McKenzie.” I said. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” She said in a sweet voice. We shook hands with her. “Uh, I think I’ve heard about you Colonel Danvers, I think it was Mission: Tranquil where you figured out the poison which was going to be used to wash out all the soldiers!” She said. “Wow, I’m flattered Ms Hall, and yes it was the Mission: Tranquil, where I started working with the chemical corps.” I said. “I have also heard about you Colonel McKenzie, you and your partner Michael Darwin were the one who leaded the Operation: Beak, and rescued the former Major General Armada, right?” She asked enthusiastically. Jake was caught off-guard at the mention of Mike, but he managed to reply, “Uh, yes Marie Curie, you are certainly correct with the info.” Grace blushed as Jake compared or named her ‘Marie Curie’. “Shall we get seated and discuss about the agenda we called you for today Ms Hall?” I asked calmly. “Oh, yeah right, sorry!” She said. She seemed very innocent for this kind of mission, but who knows a person just by meeting them for first time. We both told her about the mission, she seemed excited and scared as we explained, La Huerta, experimentation, Zekonium, protection, Terrorists and Military. “We are not pushing you to accept this Grace, you can simply deny if you don’t want to do it.” I said, trying to comfort her. 

“I’m sorry for freaking you guys out, it’s a very big opportunity, and I would gladly take it, I’m just scared about my safety, I am no fighter… I take risks in science with the chemicals, not with my life.” She said. I saw her upper lip and forehead started sweating at the thought of it. “How about we both, and some other military officers teach you self-defence and some martial arts pointers? We still have 2 weeks to leave SF…again, no pressure, you can deny it if you want to.” I said, trying to sound as genuine I could. I was desperate, we were already lagging a geologist. She thought about it for almost 15 minutes, sipping her coffee nervously and finally said, “I will do it.” “Are you sure Marie Curie?” Jake confirmed. “Yes, I need to take risks everywhere, to have a good and satisfactory outcome.” She said, trying to sound confident. “Fine, thank you Grace, it’s a deal… all of your travel expenses will be managed by the military, just like everyone else’s.” I responded. All the three of shook hands and Grace went on her way. On the way home, I brought a cake for mom and dad’s anniversary… and managed to throw an impromptu party for them by inviting some of their friends over. The day went nicely after that. One week before leaving for La Huerta…  



	9. Adieu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is finalised and the team is ready. All left is to say goodbye...

Only a week was left for me, Jake and the other members of the team to leave for La Huerta. I tried my best to find a capable geologist for the mission, but I failed… some people were scared, some people weren’t comfortable doing field missions, some people were not available for silly reasons and some people were not even interested like Aliester. I thought to keep finding a geologist even when we would reach La Huerta. I called a team meeting… for acquainting them to each other, because they all would be working as a team and all of them were strangers to each other. I listed the recruits:

1\. Estela Montoya – CIA Agent.  
2\. Sean Gayle – Navy Rear Admiral.  
3\. Quinn Kelly – Air Force Major.  
4\. Dr Michelle Nguyen – Structural and Molecular Biologist.  
5\. Dr Joseph Rodriguez – Chemical Physician and Expert in Quantum Physics.  
6\. Grace Hall – Chemical Engineer.

That team… wasn’t easy to find. I and Jake left the house at 3pm, we knew that it would be a long meeting. All of them were already seated on the table we reserved for them…Phil’s Coffee played a very important role in making the team… “Hello Everyone!” I addressed them. They all turned to my voice in recognition. Quinn and Sean stood up and saluted, we both also did the same, and shook hands with everyone else as we got seated. “You both didn’t tell me that the team was this big!” Joseph said in excitement. “It’s because it is a classified mission Pop Culture.” Jake said. Joseph pouted but didn’t argue. “I called you all here so that you can meet each other since all of you would be working together.” I said. “You really shouldn’t call of us in a public place, if it’s a classified mission Colonel Dragon.” Sean said. “Who said that we would be talking here Rear Admiral Stingray?” I asked, a smile spreading across my face. His face was coloured confused. “Who else has brought a car here?” Jake asked. Michelle raised her hand. “Good.” I said.   
All of them didn’t understood what we both meant. “Let’s go to drive of San Francisco, shall we?” Jake said. “Michelle, Grace and Joseph… you all will be in Michelle’s car with me and Eagle, Stingray and Estela… you all will be in my car with Jake.” I said. “What are you guys actually planning?” Estela asked. “We’ll drive and talk… Jake, care to give me the hacked earpieces?” I asked. “Why are we using hacked earpieces in a car?” Grace asked. “You will see.” I said and handed them each one. Before getting seated in the cars, I and Jake inspected both the cars just to be sure. “Do you mind if I drive Michelle?” I asked politely. “No, not at all.” She answered, her face still twisted in confusion. As we all settled in the cars I switched on the ear pieces. “We all would be connected with each other during the drive, I hacked the earpieces so that no one could tap our phones.” I said. “We are just taking safety measures, during the drive we will tell about the mission, your pseudo-identities, your roles and other things.” Jake said from the other end of the line. “And then we will stop at a particular location to explain the map to you guys.” I continued. 

“We won’t need codenames for the people in army, but as of for the others…” Jake said. “Estela, your codename would be FOX.” I ordered. “Done.” I heard Estela’s voice. 

“Maybelline, your codename would be JAGUAR.” Jake said. “Nice… I like it.” Michelle responded. “Joseph you will have the codename VENOM.” I said. “Ooookaaayyy… it is not bad.” He replied. 

“Marie Curie, you will have the codename NEBULA.” Jake said from the other end. “Got it.” Grace said calmly. I was surprised that she wasn’t nervous anymore. “Rear Admiral has the codename STINGRAY, Quinn has the codename EAGLE, Jake has the codename WOLF, and I have the codename DRAGON.” I informed the uninformed. “You know you can call me Sean, Eleanor?” I heard Sean’s voice. “Okay, sorry… Sean has the codename STINGRAY. Does that satisfy you?” I asked. “Thank you very much.” He replied, chuckling. “So if we are done with the codenames, let’s move on to the mission.” Jake said. 

“So, the mission is:  
All of us are told to go on a strategic and a stranded island named La Huerta. It is known that La Huerta is very different from any other island present on the planet. Its vegetation, animal kingdom is way different than the known things. Our team is being sent to location for two reasons… number 1: testing of a rare substance, which is named as Zekonium, by the dead. And we have got an Intel that, Zekonium is only discovered as a strong material for weaponries, which make weapons radioactive and give them the ability to turn anything or anyone, numb for eternity… I got the Intel in a very overdramatic way… So, my point to tell you this is, that this information has been leaked from our data base and a few countries have this rumour as a full proof fact with them. Number 2: We need to protect the mines which produce Zekonium from any kind of spies or full army attacks. Estela, you will be responsible for every identity on the island. You will have to figure it out that whoever would be present on the island is a fake or a real soldier. Sean, you would be responsible for the protection of the island from the seas. You have to arrange submarines, divers and whatever else it takes to keep perfect eye on everything that goes by the ocean, may it be a seagull. Quinn, you and General Lundgren will be responsible for the protection from the Sky, General Lundgren will know when to do what, so you will keep touch with us and not him. If he would need you, only then you need to respond to him. Arrange all the kinds of instruments you would be needing for the mission.   
Now, all the scientists here, I think you all know very well what to do, Michelle, you know about the structures of any kind of element and their biological effect on humans, so you understand that you will be kind of our biological analyst. You will create conclusions on the way Zekonium reacts on humans. I will arrange hosts who would be willing to help us in the test. Joseph, your conclusion would be based on all kinds of its physical characteristics, may it be its state, its radioactivity, or may it be whatever else you have studied. And Grace, your expertise would be required to conclude its other uses, those uses can lead onto many theories. All the equipment that you guys would need will be provided, send me the list in 3 days. All of us will be staying at the Elysian Lodge that is made there for all kind of explorers and archaeologists. While we spend our time on the island, no calls, no texting or anything will be allowed, since they could create problems for us. We have a time limit of 6 months. They seem long but that is a very short time.   
Except for the military, no other party would be contacted. We have to keep the mission classified. The CIA will cover all your professional profiles and jobs. The only thing you would have to do is convince your family that you will not be in touch for 6 months, for whatever excuse you would make.” 

Everyone in both the cars took in whatever I said for a minute, “Okay, this is great and all, but can I ask you something Rear Admiral Sean?” Grace asked. “Yeah Sure!” I heard Sean’s voice on the ear piece. “I am a Chemical Engineer but I also have an expertise in inventing drones. I could provide you small water proof cameras which can help you with your part.” She said. “That would actually be very great, do you agree Jacob?” He asked Jake. “Yes, I agree with this, nice thinking Marie Curie, me and Ariel (Quinn) can also help you in assembling the equipment you would require… we have done this kind of thing.” Jake said. The drive went into interacting with each other, categorizing every small detail… and bonding. We stopped in front of an old warehouse, the warehouse was not too far from my house. The warehouse was a shop which caught fire just a year before. I thought that it would be the perfect place to discuss openly, since not even low-life criminals would come in a place which got burned before. We all came out of the car, “What is this place?” Michelle asked. “Maybelline, don’t worry, this would be our first and last time meeting here.” Jake comforted everyone. I went into my car, and got the printed map of La Huerta. I managed to find a surface on which I could keep the map. 

The map looked like a rough quadrilateral. “Sean, the west side is closest to any other landform, the whole western coast would be your responsibility, and the exact distance will be provided you within this week.” Jake showed, pointing at the map. “Quinn, you will be responsible for the north coasts, the Mount Atropo is less in altitude in the north, we can use this as an advantage, and you will be given the type of jet you will be flying.” Jake continued. “Okay, but will I be with General Lundgren?” She asked. “No, General Lundgren will cover the east side of the island, his team would be an advantage, because they are experienced and east coast needs the most protection.” I said. “Elena and I would be covering the southern region, the southern region is covered with the densest forests, and army is trained for it.” Jake continued. “All of us would be staying at the Elysian Lodge which is on the middle region of Mount Atropo. We all would be given choppers to reach our area of in charge. The lab would be in the southern region, near one of the Zekonium mine.” I said. The Zekonium mines, were marked with triangles. 

We discussed other small details, it was almost three hours since we left Phil’s Coffee. I yawned silently. All of us were separated into groups, Michelle, Quinn, and Sean were standing into one corner, and Joseph, Estela, and Grace were standing in one corner. Jake came to me, “You alright Princess?” He asked. “Yeah, just tired. It’s seven already.” I said. “Yeah, let’s head back.” We both called everyone and headed back to Phil’s Coffee. We shook hands with everyone, “This is a great team, nice work you both.” Sean said. “Yeah, you didn’t tell me Joseph was so cool.” Grace said. “These people are tolerable.” Estela said, a very high praise from her. “Yeah, all of these people are so nice.” Quinn said. We all bided farewell to each other and headed back home. We reached home at 8pm. “Finally you both are home!” Mom said. “Yeah, looooooonng day…” I said, tired as hell. I and Jake got refreshed. I grabbed the orange juice from the refrigerator, my throat was well-dried of so much speaking. We had our dinner and I went back to my room to sleep.   
I woke up late, around 9am. “Who is the sleepy head now?” Jake asked. “Let me sleep for 10 more minutes please!” I said lazily. “Fine, whatever.” He laughed and left the room. I bathed and came downstairs by 10am. Everyone was in their own world, mom was cleaning the kitchen, dad already left for work and Jake was as usual in his room. I went to Jake’s room… “Top-Gun?” I knocked. “Princess? Come on in!” I heard his voice. I went into his room. His room was messy, and even his clothes and hair. “You are so messy, how can I even date you?” I said teasingly. “Hey, don’t judge me! I’m just very lazy…” He said with a smirk. I sat beside him. “So… what’s up?” he asked. “I don’t know, I’m kinda free today, except of going through the equipment and passing them to General Drax.” I said. “Then let’s go meet everyone…” Jake said. “Everyone… like?” I asked. “Like Rebeca, your best friend Arista and how about those grandpa and grandma smurfs from the old age homes?” He said. “That is a good idea, I will give Arista a call.” I gave him a quick kiss, and as I was about to leave the room to call her, he stopped me by holding my hand. “Stop, princess…” He said. “Yeah, what happened?” I questioned. “You remember we are in a relationship right?” 

“Of course I do, but why this question?” 

“Nothing, it’s just we are not getting time to just ourselves, like sometimes you are busy, sometimes I am busy or sometimes there are issues that pisses the other off.” He said. 

“And now in 5 days, we would be off to a stranded island, when we will be with each other?” He continued. “I know Jake, a duty of our level, we don’t even get time for ourselves.” I said, I hugged him as he wrapped his warm arms around my waist. “How about a movie?” He asked. “Movie? Which one?” I asked. “I don’t know… how about the movie, Tender Nothings, the one with starring Victoria Fontaine, Matt Rodriguez and a new actress making her debut?” he asked. “Are you really into romance?” I asked. “No, but I thought you were…” he replied. “How about Double Agent? The one with the director, what was his name… uh, yeah! Tommy Phelps.” I asked. “I am avoiding all the thrillers for the time being, I watched too many on Netflix…” He answered. “Okay, then what do we watch? Frozen 2? Lion King? Jungle book?” I said and laughed. I suddenly heard Mom’s voice from downstairs, “Elena, honey?” “Coming!” I said and went downstairs. “Honey, I’m going to meet your aunt, she is sick.” She said. “Should I come with you?” I asked. “No, of course not! You can’t leave Jake behind, what kind of hospitality will that be?” Mom said. “Okay as you say, by what time will you be home?” I asked again. “By 7pm, dinner is on you today!” She answered and ordered. “Yes mom…” 

She left the house. I went back upstairs, “So, what happened?” Jake asked. “Nothing, we just got the whole place to ourselves…” I said in a casual tone. “So, what were we doing before?” I asked as I leaned on him and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Oh, me? I was just thinking about kissing you… you know, the usual.” He said with the never-getting-old-smirk. He kissed me, slowly, yet creating a fire that made my blood boil and heart beat faster. As he pulled back, he cupped my cheeks with his hands. “You know, since we are getting the whole place to ourselves, how about, I make you some breakfast first? And then, we go on a ride on my motorcycle?” He asked. His blues eyes looked deeper than they were before. “Works for me… and then we go meet everyone tomorrow?” I said. He kissed my forehead and said, “Done.” 

We both went downstairs, he switched on the stove and started cooking, “What are you cooking?” I asked curiously. “Waffles.” 

“I thought you hated it!” I said. “I still do, but you like them and they make a good breakfast.” He said, while facing the kitchen counter. He cooked in silence. He was done with the cooking. He poured the strawberry syrup over the waffle and served it to me. I took an elegant bite. It was delicious, bravado, heavenly and many other good expressionless feelings. “If you hate it, how come you cook it so beautifully?” I asked. “Mom taught me to cook everything. And I used to cook this for Mike and Rebeca.” He said. “Oh…” I ate it in silence, savouring every bite I took. He was sitting beside me, observing my expressions as I took in everything. I was done with the breakfast. I went to my room to change, while Jake worked on his bike. I wore my brown leather jacket over a white t-shirt, sky blue denim shorts, and my brown leather boots. 

As I got outside on the porch, I saw Jake wearing a black leather jacket, a grey t-shirt, blue jeans and his dog tags hanging around his neck. “Wow…” we both said simultaneously. I went to kiss him. “Try not to ruin our date this time.” “You bet.” We got seated on his bike as I wrapped my arms around his torso. He started the bike and within 5 minutes, he was already at the speed of 100 miles per hour. “Hey, you remember we are military right? Do you want to go army jail?” I asked. “Don’t worry, I’ve got us.” He said. I leaned my head on his shoulders as we rode. We both went to different touristy spots in SF, like the Golden Gate Bridge, The Alcatraz Island, the Lombard Street, etc. 

We didn’t do tourist things like exploring everything and all, we just stuck to a corner near every sight talking to each other. “So, what you are saying is that, you guys, had to listen to ‘DORA THE EXPLORER’ for two whole hours on loop?” I asked to confirm, still unable to control my laughter. “Yes, and that was the worst form of torture I have ever seen, I still curse that damned radio!” Jake said, laughing with me. “Those are some of my worst memories with Mike, but at the end of the day, we managed to unfreeze it, and enjoy our evening drinks!” He continued. “Well, I mostly didn’t have as much fun as you did before, but the cyber corps managed to make me laugh sometimes. Otherwise they were all very grumpy people…” I said, revealing a small ray of my past. “Look who is being a closed book now.” He said. “What? I didn’t have an interesting life before, I am an only child with one best friend, I went to college and now I am in the army! POOF!” I tried to make a body language to make him understand. All he did is giving me the never-getting-old-smirk. I gave him a quick kiss. “You know, you might be the first person who can easily hide their reserved behaviour, I mean… I was rude, that was a clear sign that I didn’t wanted to talk about anything related to my past. But you… why you fake it Elena?” He became serious, out of the blue. I didn’t ponder over his question, I knew that someday he would ask this. “I think we should head back, it’s already 5:30, mom would be home soon, and I have to make dinner.” I said. He didn’t push the question any further, and silently just nodded. We rode back…and this time, I drove the bike… and reached home by 6:00pm. We both changed into our casual clothes and I made dinner as mom returned home.  
“How is Aunt Harper?” I asked. “She will be fine, she was just very low on sugar.” She said. “Dinner is ready.” I told her. “Thank you honey.” She said. “Of course.” All of us had our dinner as dad came home. 

The next few days went like a blur. Jake finally met Arista, they both were impressed by each other… They both had a lot in common, music, art, some tragedies, etc. I met Rebeca after a long time, and also her husband, Kevin Hunter. They both looked good together, and were happy with each other. On the last day of our leave, I and Jake, got into our uniforms and packed our things. Mom and dad were waiting for us downstairs. “Jake, I am going to miss you son!” My mom said and hugged him. “Yeah Mrs D, me too.” He replied. My dad and Jake shook hands like the first time they met, but only this time dad was sad because of him leaving. “Take care of my daughter.” My dad said as he kept his hands on Jake’s shoulders. “I will sir.” He replied. I hugged my parents and got into the car Sean brought from the military. After a long flight Me, Jake and all the team members reached La Huerta…   



	10. La Huerta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have finally reached their location. The mission is started. How will they handle Lundgren, the team and mission altogether? Or will La Huerta will be their final mission?

We all were landing on La Huerta, anxiety, angst, and uncertainty hit me again, I started hyperventilating. Jake already held my hands tight, seeming like he already knew that I was going to get hit by those feelings. As we landed, I could feel the salty fresh air coming from the Caribbean. The beach had white sand as usual, but… the greenery was way different green than the normal greenery. It looked like the trees had green leaves with turquoise blue highlights. And all of them were tall, like…very tall. The Mount Atropo looked like the tiger mountain from the movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. I could see the big birds like eagles flying over the island. But anyways… it was a nice view. We got the chopper that took us to the Elysian Lodge. “I think I could live here forever!” Joseph said in excitement, classic Joseph! He was always the nature lover kind. “Ugh, gods no! I think by the time I return, my hair would be damped!” Michelle said in response to Joseph’s excitement. “I don’t think it should matter, I have a hope that when all of us would return, we would be someone better, not that we are not good now.” Sean said. Michelle playfully shoved his reply and blushed. Grace was delved into the sight. Quinn stayed neutral or unreadable as she and Estela both were standing quietly, admiring the location without words.

All of us stood in front of the lodge, with big bags lying on our backs. It was a two floored lodge with 10 rooms. 4 rooms on the first floor and 6 rooms on the ground floor, it also had a kitchen, but I thought it was useless, since everything would be provided to us anyway. “Okay, who wants which room?” Jake asked. “I will be taking the room nearest to the door, I think that would be best place to take down anyone who comes near to hurt us.” Sean said. 

“I will take the room on the left on the ground floor, I don’t want to stumble down the staircase whenever I am sleepy!” Michelle added.

“I would be taking one of the room upstairs!” Quinn said with her regular grin. 

“I have vertigo, I will stay downstairs. The chopper ride took out the oxygen within me!” Grace shivered. “I will stay downstairs too, just in case…” Estela said. 

“Okay, that means, I, Jake and Joseph will be upstairs with Quinn.” I responded. Each of us went to our rooms. It was like a Vila. My room was not very big nor too small, it was like a replica of my and Jake’s army quarter, just with less electrical appliances. The floor and walls were made up of wood and the room was soundproof. It had a cozy bed, which was perfect in size. There was a single balcony in the room which had the view of the lab and the southern region of the island. It also had a study desk and a chair. I thought that maybe I got the biggest room in the lodge. The best thing was that all of us didn’t had to share a bathroom, because that would’ve just been gross! I took a quick refresher, kept my bags and went downstairs.

“Everybody settled?” I asked. “Yup, all done!” Quinn said. I and Jake handled army uniforms to Estela, Joseph, Grace and Michelle. “You are seriously asking me to wear camouflage?” Michelle asked. “Uniform Maybelline, UNIFORM.” Jake said. “You are working with military, you got to look the part too, right?” Sean asked Michelle. “Okay, if you all say so…” Michelle replied. I wanted to narrow my eyes at Michelle and Sean, but who was I to do that? I made an exception about me and Jake, then how can I stop both of them?  
Suddenly, my and Jake’s speaker came to life, “Dragon, Wolf! Get refreshed and bring the team with you at the eastern coast, I am sending in the choppers!” I heard Drax’s voice.  
“YES SIR!” I and Jake said in sync as usual. Sean and Quinn were in their Navy and Air Force uniforms. “Okay, does everyone remembers their codenames?” Jake asked. “Yes, and it is also written on our uniforms, so…” Joseph said. “Focus! But anyways, good.” I replied. 

The chopper picked us up and dropped all of us on the eastern coast. There I saw the Big Bald Head. The big exoskeleton wearer, General Rex Lundgren, or should I say, General Tarantula. Nothing changed in him, since I saw him the last time… I gave a comforting squeeze to Jake’s shoulder, so that he could keep his cool. His back was stiff, and his nose was wrinkled with hate and disgust. I saw a girl standing on the right side of Lundgren. She had straight long black hair pulled into a high ponytail and 2 swords hanging at her hips, she wore an iron armour and black goggles. And on the left side of Lundgren, there was another bald guy, who had two metallic hands, or metallic gloves on his hands, and was dressed in sleeveless Air Force Uniform. Quinn saluted Lundgren and he nodded. “Well, now the team has been assembled and the units have been brought in line, General Lundgren, you may introduce yourself.” Drax said. “I am Tarantula, The General of the Air Force and head in charge of the Arachnid soldiers. This is Fiddler, my right hand in every mission. And this is Tetra, one of the best pilots of the Arachnid soldiers.” Lundgren said. So the girl was fiddler and the guy was tetra, not the best people I was looking for, I thought to myself. 

“Colonel Dragon.” I said for myself. “Colonel Wolf.” Jake said for himself, keeping his face expressionless. Sean and Quinn introduced themselves. Then I introduce the rest of them. “Quite the team you have got here Wolf and Dragon.” Lundgren said. “Since all of us are done with the introductions and know the mission, I called all of you to show you the Zekonium mine.” Drax said, none of us spoke anything. We all followed Drax in the mine, the mine was underground as every other… Surprisingly, even though the military didn’t know what they were digging, they kept the mine very organized. There was a room beside the mine which handled the CCTV footages of all the mines on the eastern coast. The mines had tracks made for the loads. Each mine worker wore big radiation protection suits, we ourselves were given a different material jacket, since we were not going very close to the metal, or… substance. The metal was shining, with a yellowish brown colour, and was contained in boxes filled with kerosene. The substance was radioactive for sure. 

“Take a good look on these, then we will head to the southern coast to see the lab.” Drax said. “General, before we go to see the lab, would you mind if I would like to see the taskforces and their facilities first?” I asked. Drax’s face brightened up with pride as he gave Lundgren, the look… “As you say, you both are responsible for anything and everything that happens here.” Drax said and we all went to the choppers. Jake kept his quite. We were at the bottom of Mount Atropo, and there were lodges for the taskforces just like ours, and those lodges surrounded the whole landform. “Where do General Tarantula stay?” I asked in my best professional-leader-genuine-worry tone. “I will be staying on the opposite side of yours at the Mid-Atropo, to keep an eye on the other side.” Lundgren said. He chose the perfect spot, so that none of us could see him. After that, we reached the southern coast, which was very dense on the inside. The lab wasn’t anything like Tony Stark’s or Bruce Wayne’s…of course… but it was nice. All kinds of required equipment and facilities were there, which was more than enough. The walls of the lab were orange, quite the colour… and there was a network tower just beside it.

Everyone asked their own questions from Lundgren and Drax. I and Jake hung back and inspected the places. “You okay?” I asked Jake in a whisper. “Hmm.” Was all I got from him…We were done with all the inspections of each coast. Then we returned to the Elysian Lodge around 8 or 9pm. Time seem to go fast on the island. I went into my room and laid on the bed immediately, when suddenly I heard a knock on my door. “Can I come in?” I heard Estela’s voice. “Yeah sure!” I answered. She opened the door and came in, “Uh, I wanted your permission.” She said, “Permission? About what?” I asked. “I took the permission from Colonel Jacob, I wanted to ask that should I take on the night shift? Spies come around in the dark most of the time, in the day time, all of you would be awake, so I don’t worry about it, but at night…” She stopped, to let the message sink in. “How about this, all of us military people take night shifts one by one… today you, tomorrow Sean, then me, then Quinn and then Jake? We don’t want you to lose sleep that much, at the end of the day, sleep is also important.” I said. “Okay, then should I go today?” she asked. “Yes, of course, but remember what I said. And one more thing, I asked Drax to provide me with screens of all security cameras on the island, so just slightly down the trail, you will find that room.” I responded. “Okay.” She said and went out of the room. I was about to hit the bed again when I heard another knock at the door, “Eleanor?” I heard Sean’s voice. “Yes, you can come in Rear Admiral.” I replied tiredly. He opened the door, “Where is fox going? She won’t tell me anything.” He said. “How about we talk about it tomorrow, in front of everyone? I think that would be a better way to inform.” I said rubbing my temples. “Okay, take rest… you look tired.” He responded. “Yeah I will, thanks.” He went out of the room.

I stood there for another moment so that I would be ready for another knock, but no one came and I was going to hit the bed the last time, I heard another knock once again…ugh… “Princess?” I heard Jake’s voice. He came in and closed the door behind him. I didn’t get up, I just laid there silently. “You are really tired. I thought to give you the massage oil.” He said. “Aren’t you tired? I mean with that Lundgren and all?” I asked. My tone didn’t imply anything, too tired to do that. “I’m fine, you already told me about it, that is why I was ready. My guard was up, don’t worry about it.” He said, trying to reassure me or himself? I wasn’t sure about that. “I know you are not okay, but still I want to ask this, are you okay?” I said. He sighed and sat beside me, running his hand through his messy long hair. He didn’t say anything and neither did I, I just kept my head on his shoulders as we both sat their silently. He broke the silence, “We’ll make it through, it’s only 6 months… but anyway, I came here to give you the massage oil.” 

“No, I don’t think I need that, just some amount of sleep would be fine.” I said. He looked at me with his regular deep blue eyes, and rubbed my back affectionately. “Alright, if that’s what you want.” He kissed my forehead and went into his room. I changed my army gear and got into comfortable clothes, as I finally fell asleep. The next morning, I was awake by 5am. I went downstairs, and saw Michelle doing yoga, “Hey Eleanor! Wanna join me?” She asked. “Uh…No, I’ll be going for a run, I tried yoga once and found out that it isn’t kinda my thing.” I said calmly, while searching for coffee. “Oh, it’s all right, and running isn’t my thing.” She said and laughed. “Run? Who is going for a run?” I heard Sean and Joseph’s voice. “Ummm, me?” I said with my brows furrowed. “Do you mind if we come with you?” They both asked. “Alright…?”

I, Sean and Joseph found a safe trail to run on. I was wearing my sports bra with a jacket over it and yoga pants. Sean and Joseph were wearing sweatshirts and sweatpants. I started running, they both caught up with me, “Wow, that is fast Colonel!” Sean said. I smirked but didn’t reply as I kept running. Sean kept the pace with me but Joseph was a few steps behind, I decided not to talk and ran faster, that felt rude, but I wasn’t sure that I even wanted to be near the lodge. I reached in a nearby forest, which seemed to be safe enough to roam around. I couldn’t hear anyone, it was a dead silence. Until, I reached near a waterfall. It was beautiful, and the water seemed to glow slightly purplish. I found a rock to sit on, it looked aesthetic enough to sit near a waterfall and meditate. I closed my eyes and focused on my centre, maybe Hypothalamus? Or the region near my heart? I wasn’t sure, but I felt calm after all the anxiety I had when I reached here, it was a good moment of peace. I returned back to the lodge at around 7:30am.

As I came in through the door, I saw Grace, stretching her hands and yawning as she came out of her room. Estela already returned from her night shift. Joseph and Michelle were applying a stuff like… a face pack on their face…weird… and Sean and Quinn were sipping orange juice. The only person missing was Jake. I went upstairs and got refreshed. Jake still didn’t came downstairs. I went to his door. “Jake?” I knocked. No answer came. “Jacob?” I knocked again, he didn’t reply. I opened the door and saw him standing at his balcony with binoculars in his hands. I went towards him and kept my hand on his shoulders. “Hmm?” He was startled. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Oh, me…uh, I am… keeping watch.” He mumbled. I kept my hands on my waist dramatically and raised my left eyebrow. “What?” He asked after looking at my expression. “Ok, I was looking for Lundgren in any of the mines.” He finally said. “Okay… so, did you find anything?” I asked. “Nope.” 

I hugged him tightly, he held me close, as if I would disappear. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “You know what’s wrong.” He answered. “Besides that.” I replied. “Nothing, maybe just anxiety, you know… first day of doing this whatever we are handed.” He responded. “YOU are feeling anxiety?” I said in a mocking way. He rolled his eyes and said, “Whatever.” I kissed him lightly and said, “Let’s go downstairs, I have an announcement to make.” “Let’s go.” He answered and kissed me one last time. We both came downstairs, everyone was doing what they were doing before. “Everyone, I have an important announcement.” I ordered. “Okay, spit it out.” Michelle said. “Well, yesterday, Estela came to me, asking about a nightshift, I think it’s a good idea that one of us stays up all night in CCTV surveillance cabin. But all of us will go by turn, like every Sunday Estela, Every Monday Me, etc. But only if you guys are up for it, I’m taking a yes from Sean, Quinn, Estela and Jacob, what about Michelle, Joseph and Grace?” 

“I agree with it.” Michelle replied. “I’m not sure.” Joseph said. “I will think about it.” Grace said. “I need the answer by 7pm today.” I said, my tone shifting to the dominating voice. They looked at me and nodded. “Everyone, get dressed and reach your area of in charge.” I ordered and everyone went back to their rooms. 

I suited up and sat in the kitchen, everyone already had their breakfast. I wasn’t feeling hungry. Joseph came downstairs, “Hey, why didn’t you eat anything?” He asked. “I’m not hungry.” I answered honestly. He came into the kitchen, poured a bowl of milk and put cereal in it. “Eat.” He said. He put my favourite honey almond cereal in the milk. “I don’t want to.” I said. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And you are a soldier, how can you ignore it?” He asked. “I’m not hungry Jos.” I said. I realized I called him with the nickname I used for him in college, there were many moments where we both had to make each other eat food. I pinched the bridge of my nose. He was taken off-guard but managed to keep himself calm. “Fine, don’t eat. If you faint, I won’t be there to take you to the medic.” He said teasingly. Jake came downstairs. “Don’t worry Pop Culture… We both have spent many days without food, it’s the part of our training.” He said. I noticed the hidden grimace in both of their behaviours. I didn’t react and sat their silently. Luckily, soon everyone came to the kitchen. “Okay, Sean, western coast. Quinn, northern coast, southern and half of the eastern coast, will be handled by me. Tarantula will manage his part at the eastern coast.” Jake said. “Estela, you won’t be stationary in one place, you will keep circling the whole island, and you have 3 modes of transport, a water jet, a chopper and a jeep, choose whichever you want.” I said. “I will use the jeep today.” She said.

“All the rest of you, you guys will head towards the lab with me. But you all will go in the chopper, I will reach their in the jeep with Estela.” I ordered. Everyone heard their orders and went towards the door. Jake hung back. “Be okay out there.” He said in a protective whisper. “Hmm.” I nodded. I went to the army jeep Estela was given. “So, what is it you wanted to talk about?” she said. “Drive and Talk.” I said. She sat in the driver’s seat and I sat beside her. “When you went out last night, was their anything suspicious?” I asked. “No, but there was this one thing…” She said. “Tarantula and the Arachnid soldiers were sleeping in army camps, not in the lodges we saw. Only Tarantula had a small wooden cabin, the rest had tents.” She continued. “Okay, I will see to it.” I said. “And they were on the south-eastern coast.” She replied. I sat silently, thinking. She dropped me in front of the laboratory. Everyone was already in the lab, checking out all the equipment. Half of them were shocked. 

“Everyone! Let’s get to work.” I said, I handled them the big radiation-protection-suits. Grace took the permission to go to the mines to see how Zekonium is extracted, because, that would help her conclusion. Michelle went to see the human hosts who were willing to take part in the test, and Joseph already had some Zekonium particles with him kept on his petri dish and an electron microscope. I ordered some of the Zekonium particles and particles of other metals, non-metals and even the noble gases and metals. After the whole day, all of us were to head back, since today, only the observations were done, I found that, it respectively didn’t respond to any non-metal, Joseph studied the weird structure of the Element and Michelle just got to know about the hosts, like every other doctor. Grace was still in the mine. I texted her to come back and I got a thumbs up from her. We all got out of our protection suits and gear, and went towards the chopper when suddenly I heard an explosion from the mine where Grace was and a sound, “AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”…  



End file.
